Prince Liam's Lioness
by TeresaDelay
Summary: 19 year old Prince Liam has always been a bit of a ladies man, and his father wants him to settle down and do what's best for the country, but what happens when he meets a woman more then his match?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'm not Tamora Pierce....I'm just borrowing her world.

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"Liam of Conte you get out here right now," King Jonathan of Conte yelled, hammering on the door of his son's bedroom. Sounds of scuffling occurred, then the door opened, revealing a younger, more rugged looking version of the king.

"What?" Liam drawled.

"What?! What?!" Jon yelled, nearly turning purple. "Do you have Lady Marian in there?!"

"Um," Liam looked in his room, then whispered at his father, "She's the blond that was introduced at court today right? Fresh from the convent written all over? Buxom?"

"Yes," hissed his father.

"Yup. She's in here."

"Her father is chomping at the bit. If he finds out you de-flowered her—"

"No way I got there first," Liam said, interrupting his father's rant.

Jon rubbed his forehead. "Get her out of there now. We need you in a meeting anyways. Get dressed."

"Sure. You want me to make her sister go home too?"

Jon took a deep breath and then released it. "Yes," he said through clenched teeth. "Meeting. Soon." He turned and stormed away, walked into his meeting room and slammed the door behind him.

"What did he do now?" Thayet asked, her voice amused.

"On the way to get him, I ran into Lady Marian's father, frantic because he couldn't find his daughter. She was in Liam's room, as was Lady Marian's sister," Jon responded.

Alanna snorted, and Jon glared at her. "What?" she said. "You can't blame the boy for being your son."

After sputtering for a bit, Jon finally spat out "I never went through eight women in a week."

"Alright, I'll give him some credit. There's enough Thayet in there to make him smart enough not to let any one woman, like say a Delia, sink her claws into him."

Jon glared at his champion. "We need to find him a wife. I think we should accept the Princess from Saren. The uncomfortable situation between Tortall and Saren has disrupted trade for long enough."

"Excuse me," Thayet said through clenched teeth. "That man murders K'miri. We are not making any sort of treaty with him, and his daughter is not marrying my son."

"He's agreed to make fairer treatment of K'miri part of the pact. Towards those ends, the laws hurting the K'miri have been lifted for the last eight years. Our spies say the K'miri are well-treated. The King of Saren needs us to, and he realizes harming the K'miri won't help him. It's time to make amends. After this war with Scanra, we need the money from the trade. A marriage between Princess Kendra and Liam will help ease relations and increase trade and let us exert pressure so that the K'miri stay safe. It also might give Liam some stability, which the boy needs."

"Will he do it?" asked Buri, the K'miri former Commander of the Queen's Riders.

"Yes," Prince Roald responded. "Liam is many things, but duty still drives him completely. He is a commander. He will be my general, one day. He'll do what's right for his warriors and this country. He knows what they need now is money as much as anything else. We need the money, Mother. Saren is the only country we can get more money from. They have had peace for awhile now and the immortals didn't reach them. Their royal coffers are full enough for a big dowry so we'd have money fast and the trade would increase for long term monetary increase."

Thayet sighed. "Fine. Why don't we invite a delegation here to discuss a possible marriage, and have her come as well, along with some K'miri to vouch for the better conditions?"

"Agreed," Jon said. "Gary make the contacts."

"What's agreed?" Laim asked, walking into the room dressed, though still slightly disheveled.

"We're bringing Princess Kendra here from Saren. You're probably going to marry her."

"Sounds good," Liam said, plopping down in the chair. "Make sure you get a big dowry."

"That's it," Jon said incredulously. "You have nothing else to add to this discussion?"

Liam thought for a few minutes. "What does she look like?"

----

Oh god. I am so excited about this story. People reading Raoul's Girl, don't worry, I haven't dropped it, but the plot for this story just occurred to me all interesting in perfect and I just had to write it.


	2. Chapter 2

As the court awaited the formal introduction of the Saren delegation to the court, King Jonathan could practically feel the tension rolling off his wife. He reached over and squeezed her hand gently, communicating his support to her silently. Word had just come that Queen Lorinda herself would be accompanying her son and daughter to Tortall, and Thayet knew Lorinda from her childhood. Since Lorinda had once called her a "dirty K'miri brat," Thayet was understandably unhappy to be meeting her again, particularly since their children could soon be married. However, she managed to give Jon a tight smile before she returned to drumming her fingers on the arm of her throne. Jon looked over at Liam, who looked vaguely bored, and who kept glancing towards a knot of pretty court women. Jon sent up a brief prayer to Mithros that Liam would be able to stop or at least quiet down his nighttime activities now that the Princess had arrived in Tortall.

The herald at last opened the door and announced the Queen. Jon barely kept himself from smiling at the woman's appearance. Everything about her was haughty, from her up-turned nose to the curve of her eyebrows. Next came her son, Prince Zandar, announced as the heir of Saren, followed by Princess Kendra herself. She was a pretty woman, dressed in a delicate pale pink dress. She had creamy skin and large brown eyes and pretty brown curls. More than anything she looked innocent and sweet. As the rest of the delegation came out, Jon could feel Thayet get angrier and angrier. There was one delegate who claimed to have a great-great-great-great-grandfather who was K'miri; there were no other K'miri in the delegation.

After the formal introductions, a ball began with food served by pages and squires on trays. Jon led Thayet out, and was pleased to see Liam quickly move to ask Princess Kendra for a dance. Queen Lorinda came over to speak to Jon and Thayet, and Jon found himself praying once more to Mithros, only this time he asked that his wife behaved, not his son.

"Queen Thayet, so lovely to see you," Queen Lorinda said, kissing Thayet on both cheeks. "King Jonathan it's an honor to meet you."

"Queen Lorinda," Thayet responded through clenched teeth. "I am sorry to see there are no K'miri here."

Lorinda laughed. "We have Lord Valder here. He is part K'miri."

"He was not raised among the K'mir. I had hoped you would bring any K'mir-raised person with you, but since you didn't, I'm going to have to ask that you have the Prince and Princess brought here."

Lorinda stiffened. "If you want a person raised among the K'mir sent for, we will of course oblige. There is no need to bring the Prince and Princess."

"I find your reticence worrisome," Thayet said politely, but firmly. "They are your husband's children, so I am sure they are loyal to the throne, but they also are K'miri and so I feel ready to trust them. If this marriage is to occur between our children, I really must insist that we get to meet with them."

Realizing he could do nothing but support Thayet, Jonathan added, "We hope it is not too much of an inconvenience, but we desire that their highnesses be brought along as soon as possible. I know both of our countries want this marriage to go through as planned, and we will of course have to wait to meet them before we continue."

"Very well," Lorinda said cooly. "I will have my step-son sent for."

"Please have your step-daughter sent too," Thayet said. "I always find a woman's perspective is important."

"Very well," Lorinda said, her teeth now clenched. She curtseyed and excused herself.

Alanna came over to take her place. "What did you say to her?" she asked Thayet. "I thought she was going to break her teeth, she was clenching them so hard."

"I demanded she bring the Prince and Princess here to vouch for the fair-treatment of the K'miri."

Alanna looked at her in confusion. "Her children are here."

"They are not the King's first children," Thayet explained. "His first wife was K'miri. She was beheaded for treason. With her, the King had twins, a boy and a girl. When his son was born to Lorinda, he declared those first two were still a Prince and Princess, but could have no claim to the throne since their mother committed treason. Basically, Lorinda wanted her son on the throne, not a K'miri boy. I want those two here, telling me that the conditions are alright. They should have the full perspective. Since she failed to bring any K'miri, I was able to make my request more specific."

"No wonder she squirmed," Alanna said. "How soon do you think they'll get here?"

"I would guess within a month," Thayet responded. "I won't let her wiggle out it. I want to meet those two."

After the ball, Thayet and Jonathan went back to their bedroom. As always, they dismissed the servants, and Jonathan helped Thayet out of her dress rather then let the maids do it.

"Are you okay?" Jon asked as he undid the laces in the back of his wife's dress.

Thayet sighed. "This is all just bringing back a lot of memories I'd rather forget. And I am worried about the type of person Princess Kendra is, considering who her parents are. And I don't believe that King honestly means to protect the K'mir in any real way."

Jonathan kissed the back of her neck. "I trust your judgment," he said softly. "If you think this is a bad idea, we won't move forward. I just ask that you give Kendra a chance and wait to make your decision until you have all the information. I'm not going to lie to you. This would be good for Tortall, but we can manage if it does not work."

Thayet nodded, leaning back against him. "Thank you," she said, her eyes closed. "I promise not to make a decision before I meet with the twins, and I admit that Liam and Kendra did seem to get along well."

"They did, didn't they? I just don't understand Liam. I know Alanna teases me that he is just like me, but he's not really. He never seems to get attached in any way to any woman. He feels stronger about every one of his soldiers then he does about any of his lovers. He will make a great commander. I wonder at the kind of husband he will make," Jon responded, sliding off Thayet's gown and beginning to take the pins out of her hair.

"He'll be fine. He's sown his wild oats. He knows he has to settle down now, and he will. I don't think he'd ever be anything but a loyal husband."

"And Kendra seems sweet. Maybe she can temper him a little. After all, he didn't even look around at the other women tonight. Maybe there is hope."

Thayet turned and touched her husband's cheek. "Liam understands his duty. He is more like you than you think," she said. Then she kissed him on the mouth, and for awhile they didn't say anything at all.

A month and a half later, the court was assembled once again for royal introductions. Despite much foot-dragging on the side of the Saren delegation, the twins were at last in Tortall. Liam stood with Princess Kendra, waiting patiently for their arrival. While he had refused to give up women entirely, insisting that was unnecessary until a betrothal had been announced, he'd been far more discreet, and his relationship with Kendra was pleasant and seemed promising. Jon hoped that the twins would ease his wife's fear and that then the marriage could go forward smoothly. However, when the door opened, revealing the twins, Jon was fairly certain he wouldn't get his wish. A tall man and woman stood at the top of the stairs. The man wore all black. The woman wore a black gown in a modified-K'miri fashion. The fabric hugged her breasts, the waistline appearing right under her bust. From there, soft flowing fabric clung lightly to her all the way down her body. While most K'miri dresses ended at the knees to ensure freedom of movement, this one ended right above her red heels in the front and then cascaded down in a train in the back. The ribbon straps crossed in the low cut back of the dress, emphasizing her muscled arms and shoulders. Both twins had very dark red hair, delicate noses, full lips, and, most striking of all, large violet eyes.

"By Mithros, Thayet, what have you brought upon us?" Jon breathed out, glancing at Liam, who looked nothing less then predatory as he examined the beautiful woman gliding gracefully down the stairs.

---

Meh, unpleased with this chapter but its necessary. Sorry its so choppy. I could have made it prettier by breaking this into a few chapters, but it would have taken too long to get us where I want to go--no point in dragging out the boring part. Gets smoother after this, promise. Review!


	3. Chapter 3

"Your majesties, thank you for the gracious invitation you have give to me and my sister," said Prince Jasper when he and his sister reached the throne.

Realizing her husband was absolutely dumbstruck, Thayet said, "Thank you for join us Prince Jasper and Princess Olivia. You are very welcome to Tortall."

Olivia and Jasper moved to stand next to their step-siblings and Liam, and Jon was more than a little worried about the look he saw pass between Liam and Olivia.

Once the ball began, Jon and Thayet walked over to talk to Alanna and George.

"Do you have any long lost relatives I need to know about?" Jon hissed.

Alanna shook her head, watching Liam and Olivia move gracefully through one of the more energetic dances. "Not that I know of. Purple eyes are uncommon, but that doesn't necessarily mean we are related."

Jon watched Olivia cock her head and say something that even from this far away Jon knew would be a pert little quip. As Liam laughed more genuinely then Jon had seen him laugh in ages, Jon said, "That girl is related to you. Trust me."

"I really don't think we're related."

"You could ask," George pointed out.

"I'm not going to ask them that! What are they going to say?"

"You have to," Jonathan insisted. "I need to know if I am dealing with twins who cause as much chaos as you."

"Excuse me," Alanna said indignantly. "I do not cause chaos, and they aren't related to me."

"They most definitely are," Jon replied.

Cutting off Alanna, Thayet said, "Let's just find out why don't we. Squire," she said, calling their server over, "please ask Prince Jasper and Princess Olivia to join us."

The squire bowed and moved to do her biding. A few minutes later, the twins walked over, bowing and curtseying to their hosts.

"What can we do for you, your majesties?" Jasper asked.

"We couldn't help notice how much like Lady Alanna you two look. We must ask. Do you have Tortallan ancestry? You don't look very much like the K'mir."

The twins both grinned. "Our mother's father was K'miri, but our mother's mother was Tortallan once. She was adopted by the K'miri after proving herself in battle," Olivia answered. "We take after her more then the rest of our grandparents."

"Where in Tortall was your grandmother from?" Jonathan asked.

The twins both shrugged as one.

"She never said," Jasper responded.

"She doesn't like talking about her past," Olivia added.

"We know she was a noblewoman because of how she speaks and she knows all the court rituals and manners."

"Also, she once gave some noble she called uppity the smack down by telling him that her family was in the Book of Gold in Tortall, so he better not try to pull the better breeding card."

"What is her name?" Alanna blurted out.

"Clarissa. Is she related to you?" Olivia asked, looking her over.

"I don't know. There is no Clarissa in the family that I know of, but that doesn't mean much. When did she leave Tortall?"

"Some forty years ago. I believe," Jasper responded.

"Then none of us would have known her," Jon said, motioning to his uncle, Duke Gareth, to join them.

"Uncle, did you know a Lady Clarissa who was at court forty or so years ago?"

Duke Gareth smiled sadly, "Of course I did. Everyone knew Lady Clarissa. She was quite amusing. Never really could settle into to a proper ladies' role. We all missed her when she died."

"Died?" Alanna inquired.

"She died of some sickness while away at court. It was right before her marriage to the elderly Lord of Runnerspring. She was your aunt actually Alanna. Your father's sister. That was the first thing I thought when I saw you. You reminded me of Clarissa. I suppose I should have known then you were no boy, or at least that you'd be trouble."

"She didn't die. She ran off with the Shang Eagle," said Olivia.

"Really?" Duke Gareth said in surprise. The he nodded slowly, remembering old memories. "He passed through the court. I do remember they got along well, and she hated her fiancé. Always referred to him as Lord Fartface."

"That sounds like our grandmother," Jasper said wryly. Turning to Alanna he said, "It is very nice to meet you cousin."

"Princess, could I have the honor of this dance," said Lord Razdle, a member of the Saren delegation.

"No," Olivia responded shortly.

Razdle blinked and wrinkled his forehead. "I don't understand."

"No, it's a fairly simple word Lord Razdle."

"But why?"

"Because I promised Prince Liam I would dance with him again once I'd finished speaking to their majesties. Now if you'll excuse us we were in the middle of a very interesting conversation."

Lord Razdle frowned angrily, but he bowed and stalked off.

Jasper looked at his sister in amusement. "You really should be nicer to the son of the most powerful noble in court.'

Olivia sniffed. "I can't be bothered with fools. You know that perfectly well."

George smiled. "I believe we can no longer deny that you two are related."

"The idea that there is more women like my grandmother is a little terrifying," Jasper said dryly. "You do look a lot like our grandmother, just younger."

Olivia hugged Alanna. "It is nice to meet you. If you'd like to help me push my fat-headed brother into a mud pit later, I'd be happy to have a companion. Now, I am going to return to dancing." She curtsied to the King and Queen and moved across the ballroom to rejoin Liam, who handed her a wine glass and whispered something in her ear. Across the room, Queen Lorinda and Princess Kendra eyed Olivia like a predator sizing up its prey.

"This is not good," Jonathan said. "Not good at all."

---

Did you really think I'd stick red-headed violet-eyed twins in and not have them related? I know kind of a stretch, but kind of an amusing one, especially if I decide Lady Lori needs to come visit her niece.....You know that first chapter I loved. I'm having trouble living up to its awesomeness. Hopefully I can get it back now that you have all the boring back story.

Review!!


	4. Chapter 4

Liam woke up the morning after the ball and smiled, remembering the night before. He turned and reached for the woman next to him, waking her up by running his index finger down her back. She sighed softly and turned on her back, her eyelids fluttering softly as her lips moved up in a languid smile. He moved on top of her and kissed her on the inside of each of her knees, then continued kissing her up her inner-thighs. He felt a shiver of pleasure run through her, before she said, "We don't have time. I have to go before someone notices I didn't sleep in my bed."

"Who cares?" Liam said, moving up to nuzzle her neck and stroke her breasts gently.

"I care. I have to—" she gasped and broke off as he moved his hand down her body with practiced ease and sent waves of pleasure through her. Smiling with satisfaction for silencing her protests, Liam started his day the way he generally started (and finished) every day, with one woman or another. Once they'd finished, she quickly got out of bed and tugged on her clothes, braiding her black hair rapidly.

"I'm sure to get some nonsense from the men for not sleeping in the barracks," she said with a sigh. "As long as they don't think I'm sleeping with one of the other Riders, its not that big a problem I suppose. Want to do this again tonight if I don't get called out, or are you planning to bed one of your other women?"

Liam smiled, "I wish all women had the same attitude as you, Korintha. It would make my life a lot easier if there were more women that weren't jealous and only used me for my bedding prowess."

Korintha groaned. "Your bedding prowess? Did you really just say that? But seriously if all the women were like me then people couldn't call you a heartbreaker, and I know that would make you sad. I hear your future wife's sister is a mango."

"A mango?"

"It's a fruit in Saren. K'miri men call beautiful women mangos."

Liam laughed. "Yes, mango is a good description of her."

"So, you going to bed her?"

"I don't think it would be proper to bed my future wife's sister."

"She turned you down didn't she?" Korintha asked as she tugged on her boots.

Liam sighed. "Yes, yes she did. I told her she was so gorgeous I could think of nothing other than her, and she laughed and asked me if that line really worked on anyone."

Kornitha grinned. "I'm glad someone called you on your bullshit. I'm even gladder it was a sister K'mir. Having all those women swoon for you at the drop of a hat was making your ego way to large."

"I'm not sure what the situation is going to be tonight. Also, Third Company is on its way back now, and I know how much you like bedding a certain member of their ranks."

Korintha grinned. "You're not wrong. I'll see you some time soon. Good luck catching your mango."

Liam yawned and stretched, thinking about Olivia as he pulled on some breeches and went through his morning exercises. Deciding it was a good day to run along the walls, he finished dressing and pulled on his boots. He headed out of the castle and across the lawn to the wall. He was nearly there when he was stopped by the sound of his father calling his name, his tone exasperated. Liam paused and turned, waiting patiently while Jon and Alanna walked over.

"I can't believe you had the audacity to bed Princess Olivia," Jon hissed. "What were you thinking? You will in all likelihood marry her sister."

"I didn't bed her."

"Then why didn't she sleep in her bed last night?" Alanna asked.

Liam frowned. "I didn't have anything to do what that," he said, his voice almost sulky.

"Then, what—" Jon trailed off as he saw Princess Olivia walking towards them, accompanied by a man who appeared to be a commoner. The two stopped at the entrance, and, to Liam's annoyance, the man put a hand on the small of her back and whispered something in her ear. Olivia smiled and nodded, kissing his cheek before he turned and walked back towards the Lower City.

Olivia walked over to them and curtseyed. "Good morning," she said with a smile.

Realizing Liam was too busy sulking to reply and that Alanna was desperately holding in fits of laughter, Jon said, "Good morning, your highness. How are you today?"

"I am well, your majesty. When did you and the Queen wish to speak to my brother and me? I'm guessing you'd like to speak to us in some semblance of privacy."

"We would. Unfortunately, her majesty left last night. Some of the Riders met more trouble then they expected, and she took a few squads out to go lend a hand. She should be back in a few days, and we can discuss matters then."

"Whenever you are available, we are happy to discuss the K'miri situation," she said politely. "Is there any place I can get some exercise? I usually run most mornings and do some weapons training, but I don't want to get in the way."

"I was actually just about to run the palace walls, which is one of the best places to run. You're welcome to join me if you'd like, and I'll take you to the practice courts afterwards," Liam said, disguising his eagerness by keeping his voice as flat and disinterested as possible.

Olivia smiled. "That sounds lovely," she said, pulling the pins out of her hair and quickly creating a simple woven braid that she bound at the bottom. One she'd finished, she curtseyed once again to Jonathan and said, "Lead the way, your highness."

The two walked quickly across the ground in a silence that unnerved Liam. He was used to women chattering at him, trying to draw his attention. Olivia did not seem hostile; she just did not seem particularly interested in him, something that made him completely exasperated since he was very interested in her. As the two began running, Liam couldn't help but admire the easy way she kept up with him, hardly even losing breath as she lengthened her strides to keep up with the pace he set.

Unable to bear the silence a moment longer, Liam finally said, "Who was that you were walking with this morning?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him, a look so reminiscent of his Aunt Alanna that he almost forgot what he'd asked. After considering his question a few moments, she finally said, "He's the son of a friend of a friend."

"What's his name?"

"I doubt you know him."

"You should be careful in the Lower City. It's not a safe place."

"I can take care of myself, your highness. Don't worry about me."

"Going to a city you don't know very well, alone, when your royalty is a dangerous game."

"No one know I'm royalty," Olivia pointed out. "I met a few people who assumed I was related to the Lioness, and more importantly they assumed that meant I had some relation to her husband, which meant I was left well alone for the most part. Besides, I may not know this city, but I know cities, and I like talking to commoners. It gives you a better sense of what is actually going on in a country in my opinion."

"You spent the night there," Liam said, this time failing utterly at his attempt at nonchalance.

Olivia looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I have the room next to yours, your highness. I don't mean along the hallway. I mean the back wall of your bedroom is the back wall of my bedroom. I'm a light sleeper. I didn't think I was going to get a lot of sleep in my room last night."

Liam flushed a deep red. "I apologize for the inconvenience," he finally settled on saying, and was silent, deciding that maybe running without speaking wasn't such a bad idea.

---

Sorry it took me so long to update. I got really into my other story and kind of got lazy about this one. I'll try and be a little more balanced.

Review please!

Edit: Oh I forgot! My friend from Mexico told me that in mexico guys call hot girls were mangos. I thought it was so hilarious I had to use it. Totally random, I know.


	5. Chapter 5

The entire time Liam went through his own practice routine, he watched Olivia go through hers. He had never seen a fighter move so fluidly before. She first did a series of stretches that did nothing to dispel the images that had flooded his mind since he'd first seen her the night before. Next, she did a pattern of series of punches, kicks and blocks. When she drew a cross in the sand, Liam finally walked over and said, "What in the name of Mithros are you doing?"

Olivia smiled. "They are exercises to promote agility in endurance. The go from very simple hopping back and forth between two of the boxes, to more complex patterns."

"Looks pretty simple."

"Want to give it a try then tough boy?"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe," Olivia said.

"How about some terms?"

"Alright," Olivia said. "If you can keep up with all the exercises I do every morning in this pattern, I'll buy you a drink. You buy me one if you don't."

"I don't want a drink," Liam said, his flirtatiousness kicking in automatically.

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

"If I keep up with you, I get a kiss."

Olivia thought it over and grinned. "Done, but if I win you have to go two weeks without any canoodling."

"Two weeks!"

"I thought you said this looks easy. Scared that you won't be able to keep up with a Princess oh lofty knight?" Olivia said.

"No, I'm sure I can, but one kiss for two weeks of canoodling is hardly a fair trade," Liam said.

"Who said it would stop at one kiss?" Olivia said breathily, moving closer and peeping up at him from under her eyelashes. "I mean I suppose it depends on how good a kisser you are. You might be able to convince me to make it more, and I'll be here for much longer than two weeks."

Remembering one of her stretches in particular, Liam stuck out his hand to shake on the terms. Laughing, Olivia shook his hand, "Alright, draw a cross like the one I made. It's easiest if you think of each of the four sections you just made as a numbered box. One is the top left, two is the top right, three is the bottom left and four is the bottom right section. I'll tell you the pattern. Each pattern you go through thirty times. Let's see if you can keep step with me. The first one is easy three, one, back to three. That counts as one. Do that thirty times. Let's see if you can keep up. Ready? Go."

Olivia instantly began jumping, moving as smoothly as she had previously, quickly speeding from box to box. Liam had to move as fast as he could to keep up with her, but managed to stay in step for the first thirty. Then they did three, one, three. Then three, four, three and then four, three, four. Then, one, four, one and four, one, four. Then two, three, two and three, two three. Once they finished those, Olivia paused. Liam grinned, breathing heavily.

"Told you I could keep up," he said. "Now about that kiss."

"We aren't done. That was just the warm-up. Next its one, two, four, three, four, two, one three. That's one set."

After several more complicated sets, Liam was sweating profusely and his breathing was shallow. Olivia had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, but otherwise showed no sign of being effected. Finally, Liam began to fall behind, clutching his side as it cramped up.

"I can't do it anymore," he gasped. He sat down on the ground, his legs no longer willing to hold him. Oliva did at least eight more sets before stopping and putting her hands over her head, breathing in deeply.

"So, when's the last time you went two weeks without a little under the covers fun?" Olivia asked with a grin.

Liam scowled. "Almost five years," he said sullenly. "I've never gone two weeks since I started at the age of fifteen."

"Well, try not to take your frustrations to long. I'll let you continue your workout. I'll see you at the ball tonight," she said, walking backwards and giving him a flirtatious wave before turning and jogging back up to the castle.

Liam cursed and stood up, kicking the dirt he'd been jumping on moments ago before trudging towards the baths.

--

The main reason I put this up is because I didn't want to do a straight author's note. I'm re-thinking the plot of this a bit, because I decided the plot I had in mind was maybe a bit much (I may stick with it, but try and figure out a way to make it a little less soap opera-esque). Because of this, I am going to put this on a very temporary hiatus (although I may do the fairly easy follow up to this chapter when I need something amusing to write). I mean xmas break is coming up in two weeks and I'll have nothing better to do than update. I think I'll probably finish my other fic (Raoul's girl), and then come back to this afterwards, but I promise in somewhere between two and five weeks this story will begin being updated frequently. I have a bunch of different plots all kicking around and bouncing off each other for this and other stories, so I want to get them sorted in my head (one of which is a sequel to Kalasain's Guard by the way, for reader's who liked that fic--I just kind of miss Zenobia).

Also, I messed up and named the Queen of Saren and Alanna's aunt/the twin's grandmother Lorinda when Alanna's aunt was suppose to be Clarissa. I changed the earlier chapters to fix that.


	6. Chapter 6

"What is the matter with you?" Jonathan snapped at his son, who'd been staring out the window, jigging his foot and tapping his fingers along the table for the whole of the meeting.

"Nothing," Liam replied instantly, putting his foot on the ground and his hands in his lap.

"You've been fidgeting and hardly paying attention to anything for the past week and a half. Something is going on," Jonathan said.

Liam blushed, taking care not to look at his older brother. "I just have some extra energy is all. I'm tired of sitting around the castle and going to balls."

Jonathan frowned, but nodded. "Alright. I want to talk about the possibility of putting together a fourth company of the Own. Raoul, thoughts?"

As Raoul discussed recruitment numbers and possible commanders, Liam focused hard on controlling his movements and tried to keep images of Olivia stretching her legs out of his mind. Once the meeting was over, most of the people in the rooms headed to bed. And to their husband or wife, Liam thought sourly. Deciding he needed to burn some energy before he went to bed, he headed down to the practice courts. After putting on boxing gloves, he set about venting his frustrations on the bag filled with rice that the men used to practice their form for hand-to-hand combat.

"What did that bag do to you?" came an amused voice behind him.

Despite himself, Liam smiled as he recognized Olivia's voice.

"Just thought I needed the workout," Liam said, turning around.

Olivia leaned against a fence. "Is that so? Just an extra workout? You cut back on other activities recently?"

Liam's face turned sour. "Perhaps."

"Want to do some fighting against an actual partner?"

Liam shrugged. "I wouldn't mind the company. What weapon do you want to use? Plan to spank me with a sword like your cousin does whenever she thinks I'm thinking to much of myself."

Olivia laughed. "I hardly know which end of a sword to use. My father made a point to keep weapons away from me and my mother. One of my few memories of her is watching her to those agility drills I was doing. The reason I am so good at them is that is pretty much all I can do. I made sure I was good at hand-to-hand because that's the only fighting method I can practice."

"Really, you have no weapons knowledge?" Liam asked.

"Well, I'm good with a knife. They're also easy to handle, and a friend of my mother's was good with a knife and taught me the basics. I was allowed to ride freely, and my mother's friend bred horses, so I can ride well. I am decent with a spear, though I use it more like the yamani ladies use a glaive because that's how the K'miri use it. I could occasionally scrounge up a staff, or just use a stick, so I've been able to practice some at it after my grandmother had a chance to show me the basics. But sword, bow, and pretty much every other weapon I know nothing about."

Liam cocked his head. "Do you want to learn?" he asked.

"I'd love to, but if anyone in the delegation found out I was learning, I'd be in huge trouble."

"We could keep it a secret between the two of us. If we do it around now every night, we should be fine. Almost no one comes around here after dark."

Olivia frowned, but then a slow grin spread across her face. "Really, you wouldn't mind teaching me?" she aksed, her voice almost shy.

"Of course not. What do you want to learn first, the sword?" Liam replied, struggling as he always did around her to sound disinterested.

Olivia shook her head. "Bow, please. I can defend myself against a sword with what I know, but the bow would be useful in case I need to do some long-range damage, or hunt for myself."

"Well, I usually use a long bow, but I know how to use a K'miri recurved bow. Which would you prefer?'

"Recurved," Olivia said, decidedly.

Liam walked over to one of the sheds and grabbed a few. He had Olivia test the feeling until he found one that seemed about right for her and began showing her the basics. Within a bell's time she was hitting the target more times then not, though she had yet to hit the bullseye.

"Horse lords, my arm is tired. Make's me feel slightly pathetic."

Liam laughed. "There are some muscles I think only archery works. You did better then most do their first time. Want to try the basics of the sword now?"

Olivia shrugged. "I don't see the point. I can defend myself against a swordsman with what I know, so why bother."

"What if there's only a sword around, not a spear? There's generally more swords handy in a castle after all."

Olivia smiled. "I always have a few knives available, except when spells make them impossible to carry."

"You can't defend yourself from a sword with knifes."

"Want to bet on that?" Olivia said with a grin.

"No. I am done betting with you. The last week and a half have been absolute hell thanks to you and your tricks."

Olivia sighed dramatically. "Fine, no betting, but I would like to go a round. You with a sword, me with knives. I need to feel competent after that lesson."

Liam frowned. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't. Come on. I promise I can protect myself. We can use wooden weapons if that makes you feel better. Do you have wooden knives?"

"Yes, actually we do. Alright, let's go a round," Liam said, returning the bow to the shed and pulling out a practice sword and two practice knives. He handed her the knives and stood in position.

"Ready?" he said. Olivia nodded and he slammed his sword down quickly, using his height to chop down at her.

Effortlessly, Olivia caught his sword between two of her knives. She spun and kicked, slamming him in the side with her. Liam grunted and stumbled. Quick as a flash as she moved to shove her knife into his side, ducking when he stumbled out of the way and slashed his sword back at her. She dodged his blows repeatedly, the fluidity of her morning workouts easily recognizable in her sparring moves. She nearly stabbed him several times, and even elbowed him hard in the throat when he nearly had her.

Grumbling slightly, he finally managed to catch her with his sword.

Olivia smiled, panting slightly.

"Where did you learn to use knives like that?" asked George.

They both turned and saw Alanna, George, Thayet and Jonathan standing on the other side of the fence, all dressed for riding.

"A friend of my mother's taught me," Olivia said politely.

"A friend of your mother's?" Alanna said wryly. "The only person I know who fights that dirty is my husband here. Who is this friend?"

Olivia pursued her lips. "I don't really see that it is any of your business who his is," she finally replied, her voice steely.

Alanna glanced at her husband, but nodded, "Fair enough."

"Queen Thayet, now that you are back, when would your majesties like to speak to me and my brother?" Olivia said politely.

"As soon as possible," Thayet replied firmly.

"We can meet now," Olivia

"What about your brother?" Thayet asked.

"He'll be awake reading I'm sure. I can go get him if you want to assemble your advisors. This way Lorinda does not have a chance to set up spies."

"Very well. Liam, will you show Princess Olivia and Prince Jasper to the meeting room?" Jonathan said.

Liam nodded and walked with Olivia to Jasper's room.

"So, you really miss the ladies that much?" Olivia asked as they walked.

"It's not the ladies I miss," Liam said.

Olivia threw her head back and laughed, eliciting a smile from Liam as he admired the sound and the view of her neck. "You don't hide what you want, do you?" she asked.

Liam shrugged. "I never saw the point. Why do you hide what you want?"

Olivia looked at him. "What makes you think I am?"

Before Liam could reply, they arrived at Jasper's door. Olivia knocked and quickly bullied her brother out of the room and down to the meeting hall. By the time they got to the meeting room, Buri, Raoul and Gary had joined Roald and the other four in the meeting room. The twins stood in front of them and both flicked their fingers, sending purple magic crawling along the walls. Once the walls were completely covered, Jasper looked at the Thayet and said, "Well, what do you want to know?"

---

I'm back! So, I thought and I thought and I thought, and really the soap opera-esque plot is just too much fun to let go....especially since I couldn't come up with anything better. Review and let me know how you liked this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

"Has the King made all the changes he said he would? Are K'miri rites respected? Are the K'miri allowed to gather? Are they still killed for sports?" asked Thayet.

"Sort of to all your questions," Jasper said.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "What my brother means to say is simply that yes, on paper all the changed have been made. Does this mean the K'miri are always treated as equal? No. Will they ever be? We both know that will take a complete revolution. Our father can't control all the lords and farmers who still persecute the K'miri, but the worst of it is over."

"Do you think he's doing the most he can?"

Olivia sighed. "No. He could have put a half K'mir on the throne. We both know that's the only way peace will ever truly come to Saren, and even then the King would have to be accepted. He looks the other way more than I think he should, but if he didn't occasionally he would face overthrow by his lords. The stability of Saren kings has never been strong."

"Will he continue to protect the K'mir after this marriage?"

"You'll have to stay aware and still be willing to sever the trade agreement. I think he's betting that you won't check up on him after the marriage goes through. The real question is will you be willing to deal with the backlash you may get from your wife if tensions become strained when you continue to insist on fair treatment," Olivia said, looking at Liam.

Liam shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine; she seems like a nice girl."

Olivia didn't react to his words, but Jasper's lips twitched slightly."

"So you really think there's no way that tensions can ease in the future if we continue to push for fair dealings with the K'mir," Jonathan said.

Olivia cocked her head, looking at her brother questioningly. Finally, she said, "I wouldn't say that. No one can really predict what the future will bring."

Jonathan narrowed his eyes, evaluating the woman's words. "Do you have some knowledge of this potential future situation?"

Olivia gave a player's smile. "Now, no one knows what the future will bring do they, majesty? Best not to make bets on that sort of thing in my experience."

"What sort of thing?"

"Change of course."

"What could change?"

"Why everything, of course."

"How?"

"Well, when people change."

"What people are changing?"

"Only the gods know that, your majesty. And the people themselves of course."

"Are you one of the changing people?"

"Well, I do like to remain mysterious, and change always helps with that."

Jonathan made a frustrated noise. "You are being deliberately obtuse."

"Who me?" Olivia said, widening her eyes innocently.

George laughed. "Come on, your highness. You know something about what is coming. A rebellion would be my bet. A rebellion that could nullify this treaty."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Olivia said calmly. "However, I would point out that while the marriage could be less useful, and having her here may force you to support efforts against this change, most people regardless of who they are would have an interest in maintaining this treaty. Saren needs this trade. More then the king has led you to believe. The royal treasury is going to be beggared for the dowry."

"Would you advise us to pursue the marriage?" Thayet asked.

"I suppose I would suggest going through with it if you think that my darling sister will be a good wife to his highness. If you are questioning that, I would perhaps try and drag things out a little, see if the omens that say change will come within say a year come to pass," Olivia said.

"Do you think she'd be a good wife for me?" Liam asked, his face expressionless.

Olivia smiled and cocked her head. "Perhaps the real question is will you be a good husband to her? I have no idea who would be a good wife to you. Any other questions?"

"Do you want support in this change?" Thayet asked.

"Thayet!" Jonathan snapped.

"I need nothing, your majesty. I don't know anything about it. Thank you for your generous offer."

Ignoring her husband, Thayet said, "Well, if the people that could be changing needed anything from me. I would be happy to provide what was needed."

Olivia bowed her head slightly. "Anything else we can help you with, your majesties?"

"No, that is all. Thank you," Jonathan said, seething slightly.

Olivia curtsied, and Jasper bowed. Before they left, Olivia turned and said to Liam, "Want to run tomorrow along the wall?"

Liam smiled. "I'll meet you a little after dawn?"

"See you then. Good night, your highness."

As soon as the door closed behind the twins, Jonathan looked at his son and said, "Don't even think about it."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Stop worrying. I won't be following in your footsteps."

George snorted, and Jonathan and Alanna both turned deep shades of red. Deciding to ignore his son's remark, Jonathan turned to his wife and said, "Are you out of your mind?"

"No, putting Jasper on the throne is the best thing that could happen for Saren and for Tortall. The K'miri would be well treated, and our support would guarantee a more than fair trade agreement."

"Will Jasper be a good ruler? At this point, I'd happily have Olivia put up there, but I have no idea how Jasper would be."

"I suspect he'll be good," Numair said. "We've talked about magic a few times. He's smart. He's also ruthless."

"He listens to his sister, too. More than Thom ever listened to me. If you think Olivia can rule, he'll listen enough to rule as well as she would. At first I saw so much of Thom in him, but he's less removed from humanity than Thom was," Alanna said, her eyes sad. George squeezed her hand, and Alanna smiled tightly at him.

"I take it you are on the side of waiting this out," Jon said.

"I think it depends on what Liam wants," Alanna said. "Like Olivia said, if you like Kendra than we may as well move forward with it. If not, then we try and drag this out."

Liam frowned, thinking about Kendra. Finally he said, "As of now, I have no objection, but I can't help but feel like she is not nearly as nice as she seems to be. Princess Olivia has never said anything bad about her, but she's never said anything good."

"Why would she have anything good to say? She would have no reason to love the daughter who was exalted over her," Gary pointed out.

"She also might not like her because she does things like smack her servants around," George said.

"Does she really?" Liam said.

"Of course she does," Buri snapped, standing up so sharply her chair flipped over behind her. "She's related to her mother isn't she. Her mother once beat a laundress unconscious because she ripped one of her favorite dresses. Don't think that woman will do anything but what she absolutely has to help the K'miri. Queen Lorinda may have called Thayet a K'miri brat once, but she called me a lot worse than that at least once a day when I lived at the palace with Thayet. This marriage is a terrible idea. That girl will do her utmost to destroy all the respect you have worked so hard to build among the common people. And if you don't support whatever Olivia and Jasper are up to, I swear by all the K'miri gods I will go support them with my own sword."

She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"How long has that been building?" Gary asked, his eyes still on the door.

"Since the first conversation about it," Raoul said. "I'm glad she's finally said it. It's been interesting avoiding the words marriage, Liam, K'miri, Kendra, Saren, treaty and trade for the last months. I'm going to go after her, but if you want my opinion I'm with her and not just because if you do anything different I'll have no peace. She's right. The last thing this country needs is a princess who smacks around her servants."

Once Raoul left, Gary said, "I wonder if we could try and train her."

"She's not a dog," Thayet said.

Gary sighed. "I just don't see us being able to drag this out a full year."

"Well, we don't have to decide now," Liam pointed out. "I'll try and spend more time with her, see if she's trainable and then we can see what we want to do. We can definitely stretch it out a month or two easily. Asking us to only get certain fruit from them is totally unreasonable anyways. We were going to have to argue more."

Jonathan looked at his son in a mixture of exasperation and respect. "Fine. In the meantime, make sure running is the only physical thing you do with Olivia."

Liam sighed. "You know every time you tell me not to it just makes her even more attractive. Can I go to bed now?"

"Are you going to go find someone to join you first?"

"I wish," Liam grumbled to himself. "Good night, mother and father."

Liam walked back to his room, his thoughts on the two sisters and marriage.

-----

The next one will be very amusing. I've got part of it written already. Also, I'm thinking of just making this full on M. Everyone who has read my stuff knows that all my Ts are just barely acceptable Ts, and since I plan to go more into Liam's......habits.....I think I might be pushing it a little too much...and I'd kind of like to not hold back....it probably wouldn't be as detailed as the stuff in Life at the Swoop, but still maybe a little more than Raoul's Girl or Kalasin's Guard. Thoughts on this matter? I'd really appreciate your input on this.


	8. Chapter 8

Olivia knocked loudly on Liam's door. "Come on, Liam. Are we running today or not?"

Hearing the noises coming from Liam's room, Olivia rolled her eyes. "Five times wasn't enough," she hollered. "You had to go for a sixth. Well hurry up and finish. I have things to do today."

She waited a few minutes, and then finally the door opened. Liam walked back into the room, pulling on a shirt as Olivia walked in.

A K'miri woman came forward and greeted her in K'mir.

Olivia smiled and returned the greeting. "I'm Olivia," she said, sticking out her hand.

"Korintha. It's a pleasure to meet you," Korintha replied, shaking the Olivia's hand. "I wish I could stay, but I have to get back to work. Good bye," she added, before exiting the room,

Olivia looked Liam over, her eyes narrowed. "We've been running at the same time everyday the past few days. Do I need to start arriving a little later now that you have your privileges back?"

"That's probably a good idea. What are these important things you need to do today?" Liam asked, tugging on his boots.

"Nap. I didn't get much sleep last night," Olivia said, scowling.

"No apologies this time. Normally, I'm only once a night, once a morning type of man, but I had to make up for lost time, and that is your fault. You knew what would happen. Why didn't you go stay with your man in town?"

"He's away at the moment, and he's not my man. He's a friend. Men and women can be friends you know."

"A friend? A friend who you spend nights with?"

"I stayed in his inn. We did not share a bed."

"You're telling me he didn't want anything more."

"I didn't say that, but he knows how we know each other, and doesn't want to anger our mutual acquaintance, so he's not going to expect to be anything other than friends."

"This mutual acquaintance is your mother's friend, yes? The one you always talk about. Who taught you to ride and knives and apparently knows commoners in Tortall."

Olivia frowned, but nodded.

"Who is she?"

"No one you know."

Liam was about to push more, but he saw the look on Olivia's face. He'd never seen so much fear and sadness before. "Fair enough. Come on. Let's go run."

Once they began running, Olivia said, "I had figured you mainly bedded court ladies."

Liam smiled. "I don't discriminate, and I've actually avoided court ladies lately because I promised my father I would keep my flings a little quieter now that your sister is here. Truthfully, I like Korintha a lot more than the rest. She's in it for the same thing I am. The court ladies are usually trying to win some kind of favor or power, and at the very least my being a prince definitely matters."

"Do you have a lot of women like Kornitha?"

"That I bed frequently you mean? No, not really. Korintha is the only woman I've met who doesn't get jealous and who has other men as well. I'm fairly certain she's actually in love with one of the members of the Own, but she'll never give up the Riders, so she uses me as a way to keep things in check with him. Most other women expect more after this length of time."

Olivia laughed. "Well, I'm glad both of you are satisfied."

Liam was silent for a moment, then finally said, "I think it only fair that if you know so much about my love life that I should get to know something about yours."

Olivia considered the statement, than said, "Well, you can't tell anyone."

"Obviously, now spill. Are you a virgin?"

Olivia looked at him. "Seriously?"

"Well, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Who did you lose your virginity to?"

Olivia giggled. "I think it's my turn to ask a question. Who did you bed the first time?"

Liam raised an eyebrow. "We're taking turns are we? Well, I actually lost mine to a flower seller. Mind you at the time I didn't realize she was a flower seller. It wasn't until afterwards when she demanded money that I realized it wasn't my flirtation that was the reason she'd led me upstairs to her room. I still will go to her occasionally. She's good at what she does, and when dealing with court women is too much and Korintha is away, it's worth paying to bed a woman who is straight forward about the whole thing, and doesn't giggle and flutter her eyelashes and act coy. Sometimes that's fun too, but I do get tired of it occasionally."

Olivia laughed. "Well, I lost mine to a stable boy."

"What?"

"I was fifteen, and the King sat me down and gave me a lecture on my duty to Saren. I had to make a good marriage and keep all men at a distance. I curtsied, said of course father, then walked into the stable, and dragged Erik the stable boy into one of the empty stalls," Olivia sighed. "That was fun. Something about being in the stables just made it so much more exciting."

"Nice. I like a woman who takes control. You're turn for a question."

Olivia considered for a moment than laughed.

"What?" Liam asked.

"I just can't believe we're running along the wall talking about this. It's a little bit ridiculous."

"But entertaining."

"Very true. Alright, let's see. Who do you regret bedding most?"

"Lady Carlene of Raidenshaw."

"Why?"

"She was crazy. There are no words. She cut off some of my hair wile I was sleeping and made a potion that caused me to fall madly in love with her. Luckily, Thom had seen her reading up on it, so when I started sketching her during meetings and telling everyone how beautiful her toes were, he was able to figure out what was going on. I think father was actually disappointed, he said it was reassuring to know I was capable of loving someone more than I loved myself."

Olivia was laughing so hard that she stopped running, clutching her side and gasping for air. "Tell me you made that up."

"Sadly, no. Now, my turn. Have you ever been in love?"

"You mean has anyone ever spelled me?"

"No, actually in love."

Olivia sighed. "That's a much less amusing question than mine. No, I've never been in love. Not the forever kind anyways, which is what I'm guessing your asking. I've loved men, more than one, truth be told, but it has always faded with time. I don't want the forever kind. I don't want the responsibility. I like the freedom that comes from not being in love. You have to give up a part of yourself, and sometimes you lose it. I've seen it happen, and I want none of that kind of pain."

Liam tugged her arm, getting her to begin running again. "I know what you mean. Mother took a war hammer to the head once. She was out for three days. Father was--." Liam trailed off and shook his head.

"How about you? Ever been in love?"

"Besides the magical sort, no. Net yet anyways. I'm with you actually. I don't want to be thinking about missing my lover when I'm off in battle. I watch Alanna, Daine, Numair, now Raoul and Buri, and my men, and they all love the work they do, but they also feel this continual tug for their loved one. Doesn't seem worth it to me."

Liam looked at Olivia speculatively. "Something tells me when you talk about losing a part of you, your talking about one person. Care to share?"

Olivia looked away. "I think the question game is over now."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried."

Olivia smiled sadly at him. "It's alright. It's just a painful subject. Maybe I'll tell you someday."

"Want to hear about how I attacked Alan because I decided he was interested in Lady Carlene?"

Olivia smiled, a real smile this time. "Get your butt kicked?"

"Yes, indeed," Liam said. As he got her laughing again with his tales, he considered what she said. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed so important to understand her better. She went cold so instantly sometimes, and he sensed that understanding those moments of coldness was the key to understanding all of her. For now though, he was content with the easy banter and laughter they traded.

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REVIEW!!


	9. Chapter 9

"Pst, Liam."

"Olivia, where are you?"

"Behind the servants' door, but it's stuck. I can't get in."

"But it sounds like you're near me. The servants' door is in my sitting room."

A pounding noise came from behind his chair. He dragged it away from the wall and pushed the tapestry before it back. Sure enough, there was a door. He opened it, causing Olivia to fall forward on to him. For an instant he felt her breath against his neck, then she laughed and pulled herself upright. He watched her push her curls out of her face and tried to remember how to breathe.

"I wanted your opinion on my hair," Olivia said.

"On your hair?"

"I figure if you're a heartbreaker, than you must know what you like and the rest would agree. My sister pissed me off today, and I want all the men panting over me and not her."

Liam laughed. "You're not wearing that are you?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm wearing a robe to the ball. Don't be ridiculous. Now, I spent forever curling my hair, and I think it looks quite fetching down. Don't you?"

"Pretty," Liam said, watching her preen in front of his mirror.

"I think it looks a little better up," Olivia said. She pulled her curls back in a low bun, pulling a few tendrils out to frame her face. She smiled when she saw Liam's face in the mirror. "I'll take the drool as you like this better. Thank you."

Olivia pecked him on the cheek and scurried out. Pausing at the door, she said, "So, it looks like the servants never use this passage. It's super dusty, but it connects my bedroom to yours. Mayhap this wasn't for servants. Perhaps this room belonged to one of your ancestors who wanted an easy route to his mistress."

She winked at him and disappeared into the passageway.

Liam sighed and sank into the chair, putting his head in his hands. "Sister of your future wife," he muttered to himself. "Not interested. Friend. Friend."

A knock at the door to his sitting room brought him out of his stupor. "Come in," he yelled.

"Liam?" Korintha called. "Where are you?"

"The bedroom."

Korintha walked in the door and looked at him. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"She's making me insane."

"The mango?"

Liam nodded, then looked up, taking in the slight puffiness around Korintha's eye. "Another fight with Lerant?"

Korintha scowled. "I didn't come over here to talk about it," she said, walking over and straddling Liam.

As she kissed him on the neck and pulled off his shirt, he said, "As much as I enjoy the after fight attentions I get, don't you think the fact that you come to me every time you two fight or when you want to push him away is why you two fight?"

Korintha pulled away and looked at him. "When did you get deep? This mango has really gotten to you hasn't she?"

"No," Liam said. "I don't know. Maybe."

Before Korintha could respond, another knock sounded on his newly discovered door.

"Come in," he yelled with a smile, as Korintha got off of him.

Olivia looked him over. "Nice. You should always go without a shirt. Oh hello, Korintha. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting."

"Don't worry about it. That's quite a dress," Korintha responded.

Olivia sighed and looked down at herself. "That's the problem. I'm torn between this ridiculous dress and what I actually want to wear."

Liam and Korintha looked her over, taking in the tiny size of her waist and the overflow of bosom at the top of her crimson dress. "Well, every man will want to bed you. That's for sure," Liam said.

"Are you actually wearing a corset?" Korintha asked, not bothering to disguise the horror in her voice.

Olivia sighed. "Yes, and I feel like I'm stooping to her level."

"I'm trying to out-do my brat of a sister," Olivia said, responding to the questioning noise Korintha made.

"That's my possible future wife you're talking about," Liam said.

Korintha looked Olivia over again. "Well, your bosom looks nicer than hers does, I suppose. What did you actually want to wear?"

"Wait one minute," Olivia said.

"I wonder if she's purposely trying to make you insane," Korintha said thoughtfully, once the door had closed.

"Yes, she is," Liam said, groaning and throwing himself on the bed.

Korintha threw the clothes a servant had laid over a chair at him. "You need to get dressed as well."

While Olivia was gone, Liam pulled on a black tunic, trimmed with gold, stockings and boots. Hearing Korintha whistle, Liam looked up and smiled when he saw Olivia. "You look lovely," he said.

Olivia wore loose black breeches that just lightly hugged her hips and hung down, brushing the top of her shiny black heels. She wore a soft black top that invited you to touch it. It hugged her curves and its v-neck offered a modest hint of cleavage, the sleeves ending just below her elbows. Gold bangle bracelets graced her wrists and gold hoops hung in her ears. She smiled, "So, you think this is better?"

"All the men would have drooled over you in the last dress. The same way they would drool over all the other women. This is different. This will make them all look at you as someone beautiful and special, especially the ones that are worth anything," Liam said.

Olivia raised an eyebrow at Korintha.

"You do the K'miri proud," Korintha said with a smile. "I'm going to go let you two finish dressing."

"Go talk to Lerant," Liam called as she walked away.

"Mind your own business, your highness," Korintha called back.

Olivia laughed. "Who's Lerant?"

"The man she's actually in love with," Liam replied, looking her over again. "You do look absolutely stunning, but you need a finishing touch. Just a moment."

Liam walked out of the room and down the hall to his parents' bedroom. He knocked on the door, and his mother opened it.

"Liam, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing. I was just wondering if Olivia could borrow your gold necklace with the K'miri design where the heart is black onyx."

"Of course," Thayet said, looking at him in puzzlement, but walking into her bedroom. "What made you think of that?" she called over her shoulder

"She described her outfit to me, and the necklace will suit it."

Jon walked into his room, a frown on his face. "She described her outfit to you? Why?"

"Apparently, that's what friends do. Thanks for forcing that relationship on me, father."

"It's good for you," Jon replied. "Maybe once you understand you can be friends with woman, you'll stop trying to take their clothes off all the time."

Thayet walked in and handed Liam the necklace. "I love this necklace. It was my mother's. I don't wear it enough."

"Thank you," Liam said. "I'll give it back to you tomorrow."

Liam walked quickly back to his room. When he walked in, Olivia was putting a small amount of kohl around her eyes, her mouth slightly open as she focused on her image in the mirror.

"Sorry. You took too long, so I went and got my face paint," she said.

Liam smiled as he watched her finish up, realizing that he enjoyed the intimacy of watching her get ready. It reminded him of watching his parents prepare for balls long before he was required to go. He walked over to her and placed the necklace around her neck, hooking it in the back and trying to ignore the pounding of his heart as he caressed the skin of her neck.

"It's lovely," Olivia said, touching the symbol that hung just above the v-line of her shirt. "Do you know what this means?"

Liam shook his head.

Olivia caressed the necklace lightly, her eyes sad. "You clearly haven't learned enough about K'miri customs. This symbol is usually on rings. It's called a claddagh. The heart means love, of course. The crown on top of it means loyalty, and the hands on each side mean friendship. When you have a ring, you wear the heart pointed out when your heart is free to be taken and wear it pointed in when your heart is taken."

Liam smiled at her in the mirror. "That's a wonderful design."

Realizing how close he stood, he coughed slightly and stepped backwards. Covering the blush forming on his cheeks, he bowed deep. "Your highness, would you deign to accompany me to the ball? We do match quite nicely after all," he said, holding his arm out.

Olivia laughed and placed her hand on his arm. "Very well, dear sir. Let us go to this grand soiree."

The two walked out of his room and down the hall, keeping each other laughing all the way to the ball.

----

I'm realizing this is going to be a very long fic....its taking me even longer to get to the action than it did in Raoul's Girl, though I don't mind so much in this one.....also the action is lots of it, more so than in my other stories, so really this is going to be very, very long....just so you all have advanced warning.

Also, I have pretty much decided to make it M. Probably in the next chapter or to.

Now REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!


	10. Chapter 10

"I'd forgotten what she was like when she was happy," Jasper said. He stood with Alanna and George to the side of the dancing, watching Liam and Olivia across the room, both of them laughing and whispering to each other.

"That's an odd thing to say, your highness," George finally said.

"Not really. She's rarely happy at home, and lately it's been worse. Father confined her to the castle the last six months. Wouldn't even let her go for her daily ride. She lived for that ride. It doesn't bother me as much. I like reading and studying inside, but she hates being confined. She just paces the castle like a caged tiger. Some days I'd expect her to hammer on the widows like a crazed animal would attack the bars of its cage," Jasper replied.

Olivia whispered something in Liam's ear, but he rolled his eyes and nodded before turning around to walk over to Princess Kendra. Kendra smiled at him prettily, hiding the anger that had graced her face only moments before. As soon as Liam left, a young man asked Olivia to dance and off she went.

"Could she stay here?" Jasper asked softly.

"She always has a home with me if she wants it," Alanna said. "So do you. You're both family."

Jasper nodded. "I doubt I'll be able to convince her to stay, but thank you. I'll make sure she knows that at least."

"Go dance. You're allowed to have fun too," Alanna said.

Jasper raised an eyebrow at her, and she laughed. "Go talk to the mages then."

As he walked away, the smile dropped off Alanna's face. George put his hand on her lower back. "You alright, lass?"

Alanna nodded. "Seeing them. It just reminds me. Losing Thom, it was like losing a limb. I always knew he was there before, even when we didn't speak. I'd gotten used to that feeling of loss. Always present, but I wasn't cognizant of it. Watching them, I just feel more aware. They're definitely closer than we were, at least by the end."

"They were never separated. You two were all you had when you were small, but they have always been all they had."

Alanna nodded. "Liam seems happier than I've ever seen him, too."

"Do you think they're sleeping together?" George asked.

"I don't think it matters."

George looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Liam's actually made a connection with someone. Have you watched him with other people? He doesn't even have that close of friends. He keeps every one two steps away from him. He's a warrior and that's all he wanted. He doesn't want distractions."

"How can you possibly know all that? I'm the one whose job it is to read people," George said teasingly.

Alanna looked up at him. "It's what my plan was. The problem was I had stubborn friends who refused to leave me alone."

George smiled and pulled her a little closer. "You know you're glad of it lass."

Alanna smiled back at him. "I never said I wasn't."

They were silent as they watched Olivia dance with Sir Balduin of Disart and then walk with him to a group of knights that included Alanna's former squire, Sir Nealan of Queenscover and Lady Knight Keladry of Midelan. She began chatting easily with the group. Across the room, Liam chatted with Princess Kendra. He hid it well, but to those who knew him, his boredom was fairly apparent. Occasionally, he glanced over to the group Olivia had joined, each time causing Kendra to clench her teeth slightly before touching him on the arm and trying to draw his attention back to her.

Olivia danced with most of the men in that group as well as a few others, and Liam took Kendra through a few turns on the ballroom floor. As the ball winded down, Liam excused himself from Kendra's presence and asked Olivia for the last dance of the evening. They moved through the steps gracefully, as beautiful as a picture. The gold detailing on both of their outfits glinted in the low light, and Olivia's red hair shone against the darkness.

"They look like they were born for each other, don't they?" Thayet said, moving to stand near Alanna and George.

"Don't let Jon hear you say that," Alanna replied.

"I'm not going to let him marry Kendra. I talked to the maid I assigned to Kendra. I got her to tell me that Kendra smacks her at least once a day. She also overheard her saying that she didn't want any of those dirty female warriors near her, and that she plans to try and get more money out of us for dresses and jewelry. I'm pulling all my servants. She can use her own," Thayet said.

"I take it you're not for trying to wait," George said.

"I'd like to drag it out, like Olivia asked," Thayet responded. "But Gary's right, we won't be able to."

"I may have an idea for that," George said, his eyes twinkling.

"That sounds ominous. Meet you in Jon's study once this is over to talk it over?"

George and Alanna both nodded. The last song ended, and Olivia dropped a slight curtsey to Liam before walking over to Thayet. She curtsied again, then said, "Thank you for letting me borrow your necklace, your majesty."

"You're welcome. It looks lovely on you. Do you know what it means?"

Olivia smiled, touching it. "Of course. My mother had a claddagh ring. I only have a few memories of my mother, more like flashes really, but I always remember that ring. She would turn it round and round on her finger."

"Which way did she wear it?" Thayet asked, watching the younger woman.

"I don't remember," Olivia replied, her expression guarded.

Thayet reached out to touch her face. "You're safe here," she said softly.

Olivia looked away. "I won't always be here though."

She moved to unclasp the necklace, but Thayet stopped her. "Keep it. May it bring you luck."

Olivia fingered the necklace, her face blank. "Thank you," she said finally. "Good night, your majesty."

Liam walked over and touched her arm. "Weapons practice?" he asked softly.

Olivia smiled and nodded, curtseying to Thayet before she left.

"Please tell me they did not just leave together," Jon said, walking over.

"No. They definitely did not leave together," Thayet said.

Jon glared at her. "Do you want them to start something? Are you that set against this?"

"I want them both to be happy," Thayet retorted. "Did you see them talking and dancing?"

Jon sighed and nodded, his eyes sad. "It's one thing for this marriage to fall through, but I think anything between them would actually antagonize the relationship between Tortall and Saren."

"Come on. George wanted to talk to us," Thayet said, tugging her husband's arm and motioning to Gary, Raoul and Buri to follow them.

"It seems pretty clear this marriage is not going to happen, so we need to drag this out," George said, once they were all present.

Jon looked at Thayet.

"She hits the servants and is as conservative as a Stone Mountain, perhaps worse. I talked to one of the maids myself. I pulled all of our servants out of service to them. Maybe she'll learn from that, but I doubt it," Thayet said.

"Why do we need to bother to drag this out then?" Gary asked.

"He'll crack down on the K'mir as soon as we pull out of negotiations," said Buri. "That will make it more difficult for the twins to do whatever it is they are up to, which also is are best chance for a trade agreement at this point."

"Well, I got an interesting letter from Aly today," George said. "The pressure is on Queen Dovasary to marry. She plans to marry a local, but she wants to hold them at bay for awhile. I was thinking we could set up marriage negotiations between Liam and the raka queen. It would keep all suitors at bay for awhile, and the Saren delegation would actually be forced to bend over even more for us."

Gary smiled. "I like it. How long will it take you to set up?"

"Not long. Aly and I have a magical way to communicate if necessary. I would guess they could have delegates here to negotiate within three weeks," George replied.

"Do it," Jon said. "I knew having your daughter as a spymaster in another country would come in handy eventually. I kept telling myself it wouldn't always just mean it would be exasperatingly difficult to get any information from there. But make it clear the marriage won't happen. Roald is set on having Liam as his general, and I agree with him. We need Liam here, not in the Cooper Isles."

George shook his head. "They'll never let a foreign luarin on the throne. Not now anyways."

"I wish we knew more about what Olivia and Jasper were going to do," Thayet said.

Alanna spoke up. "George and I were hoping to go back to the Swoop in a week's time. I want to take Olivia and Jasper with me. I want them to know they always have a home with me. It might help us break through a little bit. Jasper has already begun talking to me some, but I have a feeling he follows Olivia's lead and she's a tough nut to crack."

Jon nodded. "Take them with you. Three weeks?"

Alanna nodded, and a knock sounded on the door. A man in the Own's blue walked in, "My lord, we have reports of a spidren nest."

"How many?" Raoul asked.

"Unknown, sir. A town got raided. Eight people were taken."

"So, a large nest, probably with young. Where?"

"Due South of us. Straight inland from the Swoop."

"Alright. Ask Evin to come join us here, and then tell Third Company to ready."

The man nodded and left.

"Want to come?" Raoul said, looking at his wife.

Buri smiled grimly and nodded.

"Take Liam with you," Jon said. "He's been out of the field several months now. Whenever he stays at the castle much longer than a month or so, he usually starts behaving badly. I'm shocked he made it this long."

"He seemed to have other distractions," Buri said wryly.

Jon grimaced. "I'll go get him and tell him to meet you at the Own's barrack."

"He's probably on the practice courts," Thayet said.

Jon nodded and walked out, followed by Buri and Raoul. They separated as he moved towards the practice courts. Olivia and Liam's voices reached him before he could see them.

"I like the sword," Olivia was saying, sounding surprised. "I think I can even practice this on my own. So I want to keep my shoulders straight and my stomach muscles tight. Anything else I should work on?"

"Balance," Liam replied, "Always stay balanced. You good for the night?"

"I want to do some archery. You don't have to stay though."

"I'll wait around. Why do you always like to finish with archery?" Liam asked as Jon rounded the corner. Two wooden swords were at Liam's feet and Olivia was stringing a bow.

"I like the simplicity of it. I'm in control, not like swords and other weapons where I'm reacting to others. It's soothing."

Olivia pulled an arrow back. Liam touched her elbow, lowering it slightly. He stood close behind her, and she looked back at him, her face close to his.

Jon cleared his throat, and Liam instantly backed away and Olivia dropped the bow carefully.

"Liam, we just got a report of spidrens down South. Raoul is about to leave. I thought you might want to go."

Liam's face lit up. "Of course, I'll go get my things together."

"Meet Raoul at the Own's barracks."

He nodded and moved to walk back to his room. Olivia stopped him. "Be careful," she said softly. "Good luck."

Liam smiled. "I didn't think you cared."

Olivia shoved him slightly. "Go kill monsters."

"Keep practicing and make sure to keep that elbow lower when you're shooting. You hit the bullseye every time when you do."

Olivia swatted him again. "Nag nag. You'll see. When you get back, I'll be able to outshoot you."

"Want to bet on that? I'd take the terms from before."

Liam grabbed Olivia's hand to stop her from hitting him again. He turned her hand, palm down and kissed it. "Until I return, your highness."

Jon rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, Liam. You need to pack your things. Raoul won't wait forever."

Liam nodded still looking at Olivia, holding her hand for one more moment before releasing her and walking towards his room.

----

Review!!! I think this will go M in the next few chapters, depending on how long it takes me to get to certain plot points.


	11. Chapter 11

"How's she doing?" Raoul whispered.

"I drained myself on those villagers and the other men," Liam said tersely, his face pale. "I managed to slow the bleeding, but she's not going to live if we don't find another healer within the next few hours. We're going to lose a few of the others too. Where did those spidrens come from?"

Raoul shook his head, his eyes dead. "Stop healing her. You're about to pass out, and you're the only one strong enough to contact Jon and see where the nearest competent healer is."

Liam nodded. "Hold," he paused, struggling to breath. "Hold this down. Here on her stomach. Keep the pressure steady and constant," he said breathlessly. "Someone needs to keep doing it until the wound clots."

Raoul knelt and replaced Liam's hands with his own. Liam tried to get up, only to have his legs go out from under him. Korintha caught him and helped him over to the fire. As they turned, Liam heard Raoul whisper, "Come on Lady Knight, stay with us."

Liam looked at Korintha. "Will you start a fire for me?" he asked, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Korintha nodded and quickly gathered wood and started the fire. She helped Liam kneel again, and he poured the last of his magic into the fire. Before long, his father's face appeared in the fire.

"Liam! What happened?" Jon exclaimed.

Liam shook his head. "There were just so many spidrens. A second group came out of nowhere, attacked on the side. We're safe now, but we need healers. We're going to lose at least three of the villagers, four of the Own, two of the riders and Mindelan if we don't get a healers by nightfall."

"Alanna's on the road to the Swoop now. She should be within a few hours of you. I'll send her to you. Are you at the camp you reported from yesterday?"

Liam nodded.

"Alright. Just hang in there, son. Don't heal anymore. I can tell that you are already using your life force."

The fire went out, and Liam rocked back.

"Come on, Liam," Korintha whispered, leading him to a bedroll. She helped him onto it, and he fell asleep instantly.

He woke up to shouting. Horses and blurry figures were moving everywhere. He sat up and the world spun, then stilled into fuzzy lines. His shoulder throbbed. He realized it was Olivia next to him, pushing her hair out of her face as she leaned over the villagers to his right. He watched as she quickly checked all of them, then began healing the most injured. He heard a curse and looked over to see Alanna, her face and shirt covered in Kel's blood. Olivia sprinted over, pouring her magic into Kel. Once the flow of blood had stopped, she returned to the villagers. Liam watched through bleary eyes as she moved down the row of wounded commoners. She healed each one, gently moving them as necessary, compassion on her face as she pealed the spidrens' webs off the stubs left after the spidrens had removed their limbs and sealing their wounds shut with her own magic. Jasper joined her when she was finishing healing the third, whispering that all the soldiers were stable, but the Lady Knight was touch and go.

When they were finished, Olivia came and sat down next to Liam. She put her hand out and touched his neck, feeling his pulse.

Cursing, she forced Liam to put his head between his knees. "I can't believe you. You're heart is racing. How much training do you even have? Don't you dare answer me. Don't talk. You've drained half your life source. You silly boy."

Despite the harshness of her words, her voice was gentle. "Just regulate your breathing. I'm going to get you some water."

When she came back with water, she touched Liam's shoulder and he hissed in pain. "What?" she trailed off, inspecting his shoulder. "You're hurt. It looks like wood pieces are dug in here.

"A branch fell," Liam said blearily.

"And you didn't do anything about it. Wait here and try and drink some of that water."

Olivia came back with tweezers, cleaning fluid, cloth and scissors. "This is not going to be pleasant," she said, dragging over a box to sit on. She pulled him between her legs gently, carefully pulling out the larger pieces of wood.

"How much do you like this shirt?" Olivia asked.

"What?" Liam asked.

"Well, I was going to cut the fabric away to get to the smaller splinters, but I know how much you love clothing, so I thought I'd give you the option of taking your shirt off."

Liam managed to turn around and glare at her. "You are such a pain."

Olivia laughed softly and began cutting his shirt. She peeled off the portion carefully, holding him steady when his arm jerked automatically. She pulled out the rest of the splinters then deftly swabbed him with cleaning solution, calling him a baby when he hissed in pain. She healed up the worst of the cuts and wrapped his shoulder in a bandage.

"Why are you so mean to me?" he mumbled.

"Because it's good for you," Olivia replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful. The world won't stay still."

"Unsurprising. Even healers with lots of training would be left reeling after what you did. Plus, you lost a decent amount of blood from that big splinter, since you refused to do anything about it promptly."

"I forgot."

Olivia made a disapproving noise, then got up. "Put your head between your knees and try to stay awake. I'm going to make you some tea that will help you feel better if you can keep it down. Mind you that's a big if."

"Anything," Liam said, following her orders.

A few minutes later, she came back with a noxious smelling tea. "Try to drink this," she said, holding the tea to his lips. Once he drank it, she said, "Good boy."

Liam growled slightly at her words, and she laughed.

"How do you feel now?" she asked.

Instead of answering, Liam leaned over to the side and puked up everything in his stomach. Olivia winced and rubbed his back. "I'm sorry, ohmi," she whispered.

Once he'd rinsed his mouth out, he asked, "What does ohmi mean?"

Olivia helped him lay down again and kissed him on the temple. "It means dear one. Now go to sleep."

-------

I'm kind of just making up words for the K'miri language....I couldn't really think of what else to do, since I wanted to use it and I'm pretty sure Tamora Pierce didn't tell us any of it.

Review!


	12. Chapter 12

"Liam, wake up," Olivia said, shaking him gently.

Liam opened his eyes slowly, then closed them against the bright light of the sun.

"Ugh."

Olivia laughed. "Appa always use to say a draining was like the world's worst hangover. Here drink this tea. If you keep that down I'll give you some food."

"Who's Appa?"

Olivia grimaced slightly. "My mother's friend."

"His name is Appa?"

"That's what I call him," Olivia said. "Now stop badgering me and drink this tea."

"How long have I been asleep?" Liam asked, taking the tea.

"The night we came, all the next day and now it's a few hours before noon. We're going to try and leave for the Swoop pretty soon."

"How many did we lose?" Liam asked quietly.

"None, besides the villagers who had died before we got here. Kel hasn't woken up yet, but we expect her to. She should be fine."

Liam breathed out. "Thank Mithros."

"Is Kel canoodling with that cute sergeant?" Olivia whispered, handing him some bread.

"What? I don't know. Which one?"

"The one with the blue eyes and the kind of smile that makes women want to take their clothes off."

"Domitan of Masbolle," Liam said with a sigh. "Not that I know of, but they're close. Why?"

"Well, if there not, they will be soon."

"How do you know that?"

"Want to bet on it?"

Liam just glared at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Are they really going to start sleeping together?"

"Why do you care?"

"Long term, the plan is to have Dom be commander of third company and Kel is going to be Knight Commander after Raoul. Them together could be a problem."

"As long as he gets promoted before Kel takes over, it won't be a problem. I've only been around them a day and a half and I can already tell how much Third Company likes Kel and Dom. All those men will keep anyone from making problems."

Liam shook his head. "I've seen Kel with children. She's going to want some of her own, which means Dom will have to leave the Own. Secret affair wouldn't be a problem, but if they want a family it will be."

"Worry about that later. Let's see if you can stand up. Ready," Olivia said, sticking out her hands. Liam grasped both of them and hauled himself up. When Liam was standing, Olivia let go. He wavered, and Olivia put her hands out, holding him upright.

"You're okay," Olivia said softly. "You're okay. Let the world straighten out again. Are you going to be able to ride alone?"

Liam opened his mouth, and Olivia glared at him. "Don't you dare lie to me," she added.

Liam sighed. "Maybe," he mumbled.

Olivia looked over at Alanna who looked uncomfortable, seated on Kel's large horse. Raoul was carefully placing Kel into the saddle in front of Alanna, purple magic helping keep her wounds from re-opening. Dom held the bridle and appeared to be having a conversation with the surly gelding.

"We're almost ready to go. You'll have to ride with me. Come on," Olivia said. She helped him onto his horse, barely managing to keep him from falling off. She climbed in behind him, wrapped her arms securely around him and took hold of the reigns.

"Mithros, what did I do to deserve feeling like this?" Liam muttered once they started riding.

"Stomach?" Olivia asked.

Liam nodded, and Olivia pulled off one of her riding gloves. She tugged the front of his shirt up and slipped her hand under it. She placed her hand gently on his stomach, and he felt warmth flow from her fingers.

"What's the Swoop like?" Olivia asked.

"I love it," Liam replied. "It's beautiful and free from any pretensions. You can hear the ocean everywhere."

"The ocean," Olivia said. "I've never seen it."

"Really?" Liam exclaimed. "Well, you'll love it. I promise."

"I hope so. My grandmother talks about the ocean every once in awhile. It's one of the only things she'll say about Totall."

"What's she like?"

"Formidable."

"Formidable? That's all I get," Liam said, his voice teasing.

"Someone's feeling better," Olivia said, removing her hand, from Liam's stomach. Liam grabbed her hand.

"You know I might feel sick again pretty soon," Liam said.

Olivia laughed. "You never give up do you."

Liam twisted so he could look at her. "Do you want me to?"

Olivia smiled at him flirtatiously. "Well, it would probably be a good thing if you did." She yanked her hand away, and added, "But shooting you down is just so much fun."

Liam stuck his lower lip out, but turned around. He could feel Olivia's silent laughter against his back, and he became painfully aware of Olivia's breasts pressed against his back. His chest tightened and his heart sped up.

"Are you alright?" Olivia asked, her voice worried. "Your heart is racing."

She pressed even closer against him and reached up to feel his forehead.

"I'm fine," Liam said gruffly, moving his head away from her hand. He couldn't believe he was reacting to her like this. He made women feel like this, not the other way around.

"Touchy, touchy," Olivia said. They rode in silence until lunch, and Liam tried to convince himself that he could not feel each one of her breaths against his neck, or the warmth of her chest against his back and her arms around his sides.

When they stopped for lunch, Liam was able to stand easily on his own. Olivia walked over to pet a gelding who'd gone without a rider, while Liam got some food. He walked over and handed Olivia some bread and cheese.

"Who's this friendly boy?" Liam asked.

"His name is a Cinnamon. Alanna let me borrow him for the ride. He's a sweetie," Olivia said, letting the horse lip her hand.

"Don't you have your own horse?"

"I have a mare. Her name is Beauty. My father won't let me ride her anymore. I left her in Saren and rode in a carriage all the way here. She's the prettiest mare you ever saw. She's so quick. When I rode her, I could outrun everything."

"Did this Appa breed her for you?"

Olivia glared at him.

"You can trust me," Liam said softly.

"Yes, he bred and trained Beauty for me. Do you hear that?"

"Stop changing the subject," Liam said in exasperation.

"No really, what's that crashing noise."

Liam paused and listened. "It's the ocean. We must be at the part of the trail the cuts close to the cliffs."

"Can we see it?"

"The trail opens up on it pretty soon."

"It sounds close."

"We can probably walk there. I think Alanna and Raoul want to let the wounded rest a little. Do you want to go see it now?"

Olivia nodded eagerly, and Liam went to talk to Raoul. He came back quickly and led Olivia through the trees. After about fifteen minutes of walking, the trees parted and they found themselves at the top of a cliff with a soft slope downwards into rocks.

As Olivia watched the ocean crash against the rocks, she gasped and moved as close as possible to the edge.

Liam watched Olivia as wonder and awe crossed over her face. "It's so beautiful," she breathed.

Liam smiled. "When we get to the Swoop, I'll take you down there."

Olivia smiled back at him. "Promise."

"I promise."

"You're a good man, you now that? You hide it well, but you are," Olivia said, reaching out and touching his face.

"Because I offered to take you to the ocean?"

"Because you care about people. Not many princes would have drained themselves for some villagers and a few warriors."

Liam smiled. "Jasper did."

"Well, he's pretty unusual where I come from, and he probably just wanted a chance to flex his magical muscles. You care though. I saw you steel yourself for news of any deaths when you asked me this morning," she said, her hand still cupping his face.

They held each other's gaze for a few moments, and Liam felt the heat he'd kept at bay all morning spread through his body. He put a hand on her hip and slowly tugged her closer. He ignored all the voices telling him what a bad idea this was and moved his mouth towards her, eyes searching hers for any sign she wanted him to stop. She tilted her chin up slightly, inviting him to continue.

"Liam, Olivia." Raoul's voice rang out from the forest, and Olivia sprang back immediately.

"Coming," she shouted and walked into the forest without looking back. Liam followed her quickly, muttering the worst curses he knew under his breath all the way back to the horses.

-----

Review!


	13. Chapter 13

"I think you can ride by yourself now," Olivia said quietly, when Liam came up next to her. She walked away before he could respond and began petting the gelding. Kel's gelding came over to investigate, and Liam was about to call a warning to watch out for Peachblossom's bite when he saw Peachblossom push up against her affectionately. Raoul gave the order to move out, and Olivia gracefully mounted Alanna's gelding. She moved the gelding forward to ride between Buri and Raoul, leaving Liam to ride behind them. Liam spent most of the ride admiring the absolute grace with which Alanna rode the gelding. He considered what he'd seen earlier and he fell back to talk to Numair and Daine, who were on the way to their tower near the Swoop.

"Numair, does Olivia have wild magic?" Liam asked.

Numair smiled. "A little bit. She's horse-hearted like Onua. It's fairly common among K'miri."

"Can she speak to them like Kel's servant?"

Daine shook her head. "She doesn't have that much power. Horses, and possibly a few other animals, just tend to like her and trust her."

"Her Gift is powerful though," Numair said. "Her healing power is at least as powerful as Alanna's. She and Jasper would both be black robes if they were trained and went through testing."

"She's had training in healing. She was berating me for doing so much without training, so I'm guessing she's had some."

"More then some," Numair replied. "Someone taught those two to heal, and I'd guess other things as well since they both clearly have a lot of control. Some of that might be Jasper. He clearly trained himself quite a bit."

Liam rode the rest of the way in silence, trying to decide why it was that he was so obsessed with understanding Olivia. He'd begun to let go of any sexual intentions when he thought she was not interested, but that moment on the cliff had reawakened and magnified those desires. But he wanted so much more than what he'd wanted from the women who filled his past. He wanted her to let him in, let him behind the steel armor she always wore.

When they arrived at the Swoop, Liam walked over to Olivia. "Want to go down to the ocean before dinner?"

Olivia's face lit up immediately, but then her expression faded to guarded.

"Come on," Liam teased her. "You scared or something?"

Olivia frowned. "Of course I'm not scared. Let's go," she snapped, stalking off towards the water. She paused and laughed, letting him catch up.

"What?" Liam asked.

"I can't believe I fell for that. Oh, well. Come on," she replied, smiling up at him in a way that made him feel as though his stomach had flipped over. Liam led her along the winding path down the rocky cliffs to the beach below the Swoop. Liam pulled off his boots and stockings, walking out so the water would swarm around his ankles. Olivia did the same a few moments later. She stood next to him and reached her arms out, turning her face up to the sun.

"Race you all the way in," Olivia said.

"What?" Liam exclaimed.

Olivia laughed and ran out of the water, pulling her shirt over her head. Liam followed her, tugging at his own shirt. She wriggled easily out of her breeches and sprinted back into the water. Liam didn't bother to try and keep up with her. In utter awe, he watched as she rushed into the water, letting him see the body that had been hidden under her clothes. She had a true hourglass figure, a small waist and softly curved hips, and her breast band did not disguise the fullness of her breasts.

She turned when she was waist deep and looked at him. "You coming?" she called.

He grinned and slid off his breeches, moving quickly in after her. He watched as she dove under a wave, then came up with a whoop. Smiling, he followed her lead and dove under the next wave, then followed her out past them.

"Be careful," Liam called. "The ocean will trick you. Pull you out so far you can't get back."

"Aye, aye, captain," Olivia called, treading water easily.

The two enjoyed the slow up and down movement of the ocean in silence, until Olivia shrieked.

"What?" Liam said.

"I thought something brushed my leg," Olivia said, looking around.

"Maybe it's a shark."

"Shut up," Olivia said. She was rolling her eyes, when she let out another shriek. She swam over to Liam in three quick strokes and wrapped herself around him.

"What are you doing?" Liam said, trying to ignore the fact that only a thin layer of fabric separated her chest from his and that her bare legs were wrapped around his waist.

"We'll be too big to eat together," Olivia whispered.

"There are no sharks around her," Liam whispered back. "It was probably seaweed."

Olivia cursed and punched him in the chest, swimming away.

"Come on. It's almost time for dinner. We should go in," Liam said.

Olivia sighed, looking longingly out at the horizon.

"We can come back tomorrow. You have three weeks here."

Olivia smiled sadly. "I'm not sure that's a good thing."

Olivia swam back to shore and refused to talk about what she'd said. She used a spell to dry them both off and slipped her clothes back on quickly. They walked up the castle together, and Liam dropped the subject, choosing to badger her suspicions about Kel and Dom again. By the time they got back to the Swoop, his teasing had her smiling and laughing again, but Liam could still sense that lingering melancholy that seem to be ever present in her.

----

Review! Sorry it's so short....


	14. Chapter 14

Liam stood on a secluded portion of the Swoops' wall, looking out at on the ocean, the moon reflected on its great expanse. They were all heading back to Corus tomorrow, and he couldn't sleep. The last few weeks had been either the best or worst of his life, and despite spending at least an hour considering which it was, he still wasn't sure. He and Olivia had hardly been separated the entire time, and she'd finally started to relax, especially around him, George and Alanna. The guardedness had vanished, and she even talked about her childhood occasionally.

They went running and hit the practice courts in the morning when they woke up, then bathed. They had breakfast next, then they went for a ride. After lunch, they went swimming together and spent time at the beach until dinner. After dinner, they did some more weapons practice, then they lounged about in George and Alanna's comfortable library, talking, playing chess and exchanging stories. Sometimes it was just the two of them, and sometimes some of the others joined them.

Liam had enjoyed every moment with her, but it had also been agony. He burned to touch her, but he was terrified of pushing her away again. He'd ignored all other women the entire time, to the point that Korintha had teasingly asked him if he was in love. Luckily, she was too busy preventing Lerant from getting out of his hospital bed too quickly and sorting out her own feelings for the stubborn standard-bearer to spend much time trying to tease a confession of love from Liam.

Love. Was that what this was? The thing that made his heart pound every time she was near. That made him smile every time she smiled, and his stomach clench every time her sadness returned. Did love make every other woman seem dull next to her? He'd never asked for love. Never wanted love. He almost wished he'd never met her. He would have married Kendra, and then he'd get to spend his time fighting for his country, coming home only when he was tired of battle or his brother needed him. Maybe that would have been better. Nothing to tug him away or tie him down.

"Can't sleep either?" At the sound of her voice, Liam knew how foolish his thinking had been only moments before. He'd never wish that sound away, no matter what happened.

"Nope," he said, as she walked over and stood next to him.

"Full moon," she commented, shivering slightly from the night breeze. "It's a little bit chilly out here."

She slipped under his arm and pressed herself against his side, forcing him to warm her. She is going to be the death of me, he thought, holding her against him. He moved his hand up and down her side, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation as she leaned her head against his chest.

He'd gotten good at controlling his physical response to her presence. His breathing no longer grew more ragged, and she no longer would be able to feel his heart speed up. What he couldn't control was his awareness of every single place where her body touched his, or his annoyance at the layers of clothing that separated her skin from his.

Despite Liam's warmth, Olivia was still shivering. Liam moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her, placing his chin on the top of her head, grateful for the excuse to hold her.

"There's the North Star," Olivia said. "Shining the way. I love the North Star. I know everyone I care about can always see it, and it will always help me find my home."

Liam smiled. "That's what my mother always says."

"It's from a K'miri legend. Do you know it?"

Liam shook his head. "I know a lot of them, but not that one."

"Want to hear it?"

"Of course," Liam said, moving his head slightly to press his cheek against her temple and rubbing his hands along her arms to warm them.

"Long ago, there were no stars. Only the moon lived in the night sky. During that time, there lived a woman and her son. The woman loved her son more than anything else in the world. They spent all their time together. She told him stories and taught him games. She tucked him in at night and sang him songs until he fell asleep. One night after she'd put him to bed, raiders came. She managed to get away, but her son was killed. She was devastated, and at night she could hear his spirit wandering, trying to find his way home. One night, she couldn't take it anymore and she ran into the forest, crying out for his spirit to find his way to peace. One of the K'miri horse lords heard her cries and came to her. She offered to take her to the sky where she could guide all lost souls forever more. The woman agreed, and the goddess took her up into the sky. She became the first star, the North Star, and her son saw her in the sky and he went to her, and became the second star. After that, the lost souls with no home joined the woman and her son in the sky to become one of the family of stars, and all other lost souls used the North Star to find their way home."

"That's beautiful," Liam said when she finished.

"Isn't it?"

"Did Appa tell you that story?"

Olivia stiffened immediately, but Liam didn't let go of her. "Why are you so protective of him?"

Olivia breathed out. "Habit," she said quietly. "He's important to me. If anyone found out back home, they would try and keep him away. Perhaps worse."

"Are you in love with him?"

Olivia snorted. "Gross. No. He's like family to me. And my mother used to tell me and Jasper that story every night before she died, and after she died, we began telling it to each other every night. We knew that she could see the North Start too, even where she was."

"How old were you when she died?"

"Three."

"How old are you?"

Olivia smiled. "Older than you."

"Ah, the mysterious older woman act. Seductive."

Olivia laughed. "I'm twenty one. Your future wife is sixteen."

Liam shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the mention of Kendra. "Really? That's pretty young."

"Not in Saren. I'm an old maid in Saren."

"So, why aren't you married?"

"I've managed to avoid it so far, using a great deal of skill."

"Eventually, will you have to?"

Olivia cocked her head. "Promise not to tell?"

"Of course."

"If my father ever really tries to force me to marry, I plan to leave and join my mother's tribe. I'll probably do that eventually anyways."

"What are you and Jasper up to exactly?"

Olivia shook her head. "I already said too much."

"Olivia, you can trust me."

"I know," Olivia said softly. "But it's always better to tell only what's necessary."

"Are you going to try and put Jasper on the throne? Tell me. Mother wants to help, and father would never get in your way. Frankly, we'd love to support you to get better trade relations, besides our feelings about the current king and the K'mir. It would have to be invisible support, but we could get you money, and I would guess some of our warriors will leave to help you. I know Korintha probably would, and father will have to work hard to keep Buri from going as well."

Olivia didn't say anything, but she nodded slightly. Liam felt her head move across his cheek and smiled. He kissed her temple, and she looked up at him. "What was that?" she asked.

"Thank you for trusting me."

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything," Olivia said, her voice innocent.

Liam laughed, sending vibrations through them both. "Did you grandmother tell you any stories from Tortall?"

"Not really. She told me a few of the old adventure stories, stories about the Dominion Jewel and the like."

"George told me some of the commoner folktales. Want me to tell you about the man in the moon?"

Olivia ducked under his arm. She sat down on the wall and patted the ground next to her. "Tell me," she said.

Liam smiled and sat down next to her. Olivia leaned on him again, and he put his arm around of her and told her the story of the man in the moon.

"So the man in the moon is a thief hiding from the Provost's Guards and laughing at them?" Olivia said, giggling when he finished the story. "Why do I think that's George's story more than a traditional Tortallan one."

Liam shrugged. "That's the only way I heard it."

"Well, I do like it. But we should really go to bed."

"Let's stay a little longer," Liam said. "It's too nice a night not to enjoy it as long as possible."

Olivia looked up at him, her eyes sad. "I don't want to leave here."

"Then don't. Alanna says you always have a home here, and she means it."

"I can't just start living here. Living off of them."

"You would be a good Rider, and there's tons of other things you could do if you feel that way."

Olivia shook her head and sighed, looking up at the North Star. "I have to go back. Back to my people."

Liam couldn't stop himself from tightening his grip on her possessively. Olivia smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Maybe I can come visit," she said. "I will miss you."

Liam found himself staring at her lips. They were so close to his, so inviting. He glanced up and realized she was looking at his lips. He moved forward slightly, and her lips parted slightly, her breathing picking up. Suddenly, Olivia stood up, breaking the spell.

"Come on," she said, reaching out a hand to help him up. "Time for bed. We have quite a ride tomorrow."

Liam grimaced slightly, but let her pull him up. He walked with her back into the castle, parting ways at one of the hallways and mentally cursing the mango that was trying to drive him crazy with every single one of her actions.

----

Poor Liam. I really must stop torturing him so. Next is the delegation from the Cooper Isles. Don't you want to know who's coming and what trouble will be caused? Review please!


	15. Chapter 15

"Jonathan is going to be so angry at us," Alanna said. She, Buri, George and Raoul were standing to the side, waiting for the Own to finish packing up their gear and watching Liam and Olivia talking. The two kept touching each other playfully. Liam would tug her braid, and Olivia would pinch him on the arm, or he would touch her elbow, or she would brush a speck of dirt off his tunic.

Raoul grinned. "He tried to separate them and instead they spent three weeks almost exclusively together. Where is Jasper by the way?"

"In the library still. I had some books he hadn't read and he's still trying to finish the last one. He and Thom went through half the library together."

"Mages," Buri said, shaking her head in amusement.

"The next few weeks are certainly going to be interesting," George said.

"Liam's certainly interested, but is she? She's trickier than he is," Raoul said speculatively.

"She's interested," George said, watching Olivia smack Liam in the arm and laugh.

"And how would you know that?" Alanna asked with a grin.

George raised an eyebrow at her. "Trying to deny feelings seems to be a trait among the female family members on your side. A man learns to read the signs."

"Aly didn't seem to have that trait," Buri said.

"She takes after George far more then me," Alanna replied. "It's a fair point."

"Is Aly coming with the delegation?" Raoul asked quietly.

George shook his head, his eyes sad. "Too dangerous. She's going to try and come out in a few months, but she and I both agreed that her showing up at the same time as the delegation would be just too much of a coincidence."

Alanna leaned her head against his arm, lacing her fingers with his. George looked down at his wife and smiled. "We'll see her soon," Alanna said softly.

"The delegation is here already," George added. "I just got word. They arrived early and got in yesterday."

"Who's leading the delegation?" Buri asked.

"Taybur Sibigat."

"Oh, I remember him. He's the only person I ever met who flirts more naturally than Liam," Buri said. "Smart as they come too."

"Sir, we're ready," Captain Fly said, walking over to Raoul.

"Alright people. Let's move out," Raoul shouted, his voice carrying easily across to all the men.

Alanna winced. "I think the yelling is your favorite part of your job."

Raoul looked at his old friend. "Excuse me Sir Temper, you yell far more than I do. In fact, I never yell. I simply vocalize loudly in a dignified manner."

Buri looked over at Liam and Olivia, who were still giggling together. "Liam," she shouted. "Stop flirting and get ready to leave."

She turned to look at her friends as Liam and Olivia both turned bright red and turned away from each other to mount their horses. "I like yelling," she said with a grin, then walked over to her own nasty-tempered pony.

A few days later, the group arrived at the palace just in time for the midday bell. Jonathan and Thayet walked out to meet the group. When they reached their friends, Jonathan sighed, looking at his son and Olivia as they dismounted and stretched, chatting amicably.

"It's completely useless to fight this, isn't it?" he said.

"They're not sleeping together," George said.

"Really?" Jonathan said, surprised. "How can you be sure?"

"I know what happens on my fief."

Jonathan watched his son reach forward to rub a smudge of Olivia's face. "They'll be sleeping together soon though. I'm fairly certain of that," he said wryly.

"We'll jump off that bridge when we get to it," Thayet said. "Anyways, brilliant idea with the Copper Islanders, George. They're a fun bunch. Lori is in fits about them being here. That was a brilliant idea. She actually asked Jonathan if he really wanted his son married to a raka dog. Idiot woman."

"There's a ball tonight. You're all going. No excuses," Jon said, glaring at Raoul.

"Jon did the package I told you about arrive?" Alanna asked.

Jon smiled. "Yes it did."

"What package lass?" George asked.

Alanna smiled. "Just your birthday present."

George grinned. "You thought three weeks in advance? Lass, I'm touched. I'm used to you disappearing the night before my birthday in search of a present."

"Can we go to the meeting room just for a moment?" Jon interrupted. "I need to discuss something with all of you."

"Is it about the treaty?" Alanna asked. "If it is, maybe we should invite Olivia and Jasper. I think the more we trust them, the more they'll trust us, and now I trust them both completely."

Jon nodded. "Not a bad idea."

Jon beckoned Liam and Olivia over, while Alanna motioned to Thom and Jasper. The twins, Thom and Liam walked over quickly. "What's going on?"

"Let's go discuss it in private," Jon said. They group walked to the meeting room. When they opened it, Myles, George's mother, Numair, Daine, Roald, Shinko, Alan and Gary were already in the room, talking to a woman with short strawberry-blond hair and a dark-haired man.

"Happy Birthday, George," Alanna said, pushing him inside.

The woman turned and smiled. "Happy Birthday, Da."

George walked across the room quickly and gave his only daughter a bone-crushing hug. When he let go, Aly's eyes were misty. "See, Da," she teased. "You're losing it in your old age. Even Ma managed to pull the wool over your eyes."

George laughed, "What are you doing here, lass? I'm glad to see you, but it's not particularly safe."

"I needed to come home for a bit," Aly said, leaning up against her father. "I missed all of you, and I started snapping at people all the time. I used the magic to try and contact you, and Ma was the only one around, and I cried, and she insisted that I come back for a few weeks. You know what she's like when she gets an idea in her head."

Alanna came over and hugged her daughter. "Anyone would of reacted the same way. Besides, I missed you too, and this is definitely the best present I could have gotten. Now give everyone else a hug."

George and Alanna stepped aside, letting everyone else attack Aly with hugs, the young woman laughing with interest.

Olivia and Jasper stood back, watching them. Jasper simply looked interested, but Liam could read the sadness hidden behind Olivia's neutral expression. When things had calmed down a little, Alanna said, "Aly, these are your cousins Prince Jasper and Princess Olivia. Jasper, Olivia, this is our daughter Aly. We'd appreciate it if you did not mention to anyone besides the people in this room that you have seen her."

Jasper shrugged and said, "Sure," but Olivia just tilted her head, examining Aly slowly.

"You arrived with the Cooper Island delegation," Olivia said, the words a statement.

Aly smiled. "Yes, I did."

Olivia nodded slowly. "Interesting. I'll keep quiet though. It's nice to meet you cousin. Who's you friend?"

The man walked forward and bowed low to Olivia, kissing her hand reverently. "Taybur Sigibat. Captain of the Queen's Guard. It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness."

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Captain," Olivia said prettily, looking up at him flirtatiously from under her eyelashes.

"Maybe you don't have a problem after all," Alanna whispered in Jon's ear.

"No, now I just have a different sort of problem," Jon said, watching Liam clench his fists as he stared at the Olivia and Taybur.

----

Uh, oh. Liam's got some competition.....Seriously, this is taking me so many chapters to write, ridiculous, eventually it gets all exciting and stuff.....But it will me M very, very soon (if not the next chapter then the chapter after).......in the meantime, REVIEW!!!!


	16. Chapter 16

As he sat on his bed, he heard the noises he knew were coming. He'd been expecting them. After all, she'd danced with him most of the ball, laughing and flirting. He'd tried not to watch, tried to pay attention to Kendra's silly twittering, or feign interest in what Dove and the Cooper Isles were like, but through every conversation he watched them out of the corner of his eye, knowing from the way she held her head and moved her hands where the night would end. He used to read those signs to know whether the woman in front of him really want to bed him or just wanted to draw him in to gain status. Instead of reading Kendra or the other women who pestered him over the course of the evening, he just watched her respond to him and dreaded returning to his room to face the sounds. There they were: the creak of the bed, a low moan, a gasp. In truth, she was being more considerate than he ever was. Unless she was just naturally quieter than the majority of women he knew. After all, why would she be thinking about him while he bedded her? He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, imgaining he were the one on top of her settled between her legs, wishing it was his hands running over her breasts, his ear she breathed her ecstasy into, his eyes she looked into.

"Taybur." Olivia's breathless voice drifted through the wall, passion making her loud for the first time.

Liam got off the bed, unable to bear listening a moment longer. He left his room quickly, walking to the stables and saddling his horse.

"Hello, boy," he whispered, stroking his muzzle before mounting up. He rode quickly to the city, moving through the streets until he arrived in the Lower City. He slowed at one of the nicer brothels, tossing the reigns to the stable boy.

When he walked in the owner smiled. "Well, hello," she said. "I haven't seen ye for awhile."

"Good evening, Madame Arianna. I've missed you," Liam said, smiling flirtatiously at the older woman. She was still quite a beauty, though Liam pegged her age at around fifty. Ever since the first time when he'd accidentally slept with one of her girls and she'd teased the story out of him without making him feel humiliated, Liam had exclusively frequented her brothel on the rare occasions that he was willing to pay to keep his satisfaction as straightforward as possible.

Madame Arianna laughed. "I've missed you too, darling. Now, who would ye like this night. Darla? She was always your favorite."

"Don't you have a curvy redhead?" Liam asked.

"Oh, of course. Fiona. You'll like her. She's got a real personality. Even tougher than Darla. I always liked that about you. You went for the one's with guts. Not my empty headed twits."

Liam smiled. "You mean I liked the women like you."

Madame Arianna laughed again. "Flatterer you are. Just like yer father."

"My father? I don't think you know my father."

"Of course I do. I still remember the first time he went through the city, showin' hisself as the new king. My jaw near dropped right off when I realized it was young Johnny that used to pal around at the Dancing Dove that was up on that horse. Although not near as far as it dropped when we all found out his squire Alan was a girl and our King hisself was marrying her and becoming a Baron. Crazy times they were. And don tell me he's not your father. Your the spittin' image of young Johnny. He liked the redheads too," she said with a grin, pushing her long red hair off her shoulder. "Go on through. I'll get Fiona for ye."

Liam shook his head, grinning at his own folly to think he could get anything past the Madame, and trying to ignore what she'd said about his father. He walked through the fabric doors that separated the front room from the waiting room. A few minutes later, Fiona appeared. He smiled as he saw her small waist, round hips and the dark red shade of her hair.

"Hello," she said, reaching her hand out to him.

"Hello," Liam responded, taking her hand and following her up the stairs. She opened one of many doors down a long hallway. The room was lit only by one candle, giving a soft glow to the plush furniture and red hangings in the room. He turned and kissed her, unlacing her dress and easing it off. She kissed him back, tugging his tunic over his head. Gods, how had he gone so long without this? he thought as she ran her fingernails along his back and sucked lightly on his neck. He didn't need Olivia. He'd only gotten so wrapped up in her because he'd denied himself for so long. He pushed Fiona gently back on the bed, sliding off the last of her clothing. He leaned over her, kissing her softly and wrapping her hair around his fingers. She was as beautiful as Olivia. There were plenty of girls as beautiful as Olivia, as interesting too. Fiona looked up at him, her pretty blue eyes connecting with his, jarring him out of his fantasy.

"Close your eyes," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her and stroking her between her thighs.

She complied, moaning at his touch. He closed his eyes too, allowing his hands to take over, going through the motions he knew so well. Despite his attempts to forget Olivia, his mind wandered to her even as Fiona caressed him. Would her lips taste the same as Fiona's? Would she too arch her back and cry out if he ever got the chance to bite down gently on the skin stretched taut across her hipbone?

He shook himself mentally as he moved completely on top of Fiona, forcing Olivia out of his head and focusing on the beautiful girl below him. He kissed her on the mouth and pushed into her.

"Taybur." Her voice drifted towards him, but he shoved the memory away. He gasped as he moved inside of her, quickly finding the rhythm that had been as familiar as breathing until recently. The sensations took over and he sank into the clarity of purpose that he only ever found during sex.

"Oh gods above," he moaned, kissing her below her ear. He began speeding up, leaving her panting with desire and thoughts of Olivia far behind. Pure pleasure washed over him, but he held back, unwilling to let go of the oblivion until he absolutely had to. At last he released, rolling off of her afterwards and breathing heavily on his back.

Fiona propped herself up on one elbow, moving her fingers lightly over his chest. "Darla always said ye were a fun one. She spoke the truth for once."

Liam smiled. "Glad I didn't disappoint you. Thank you," he said, sitting up and reaching for his breeches.

"Anytime," Fiona replied, pulling on a robe and smiling at him seductively.

Once he was dressed, Liam said good-bye to the woman, then went back down to talk to Madame Arianna.

"Found what ye were lookin' for lad?" Arianna said as Liam handed her coins.

Liam shrugged. "I suppose. Fiona was lovely."

"Ye didn't really, did you lad? Had a little fun you did. Forgot for a moment, but didn't change it like you hoped to. Didn't change ye back. Yer different now. Some woman finally done sunk her claws into you. Well, it was bound to happen some time."

"You're a wise woman. She's not interested."

"What's the matter with the lass?"

Liam shrugged. "Don't ask me. I don't understand her. Sometimes I think she's interested, but she always pulls away at the last minute. She blows hot and cold, or maybe that's just how all women act with their friends and I've just never known it."

"Trust your gut. Just 'cause she slept with someone else, which I'm guessing is what happened here, don mean she's not interested. You got quite a reputation lad, and as a prince you come with baggage. Mayhap she's scared. Patience lad. Yeou need some patience. You didn't learn the sword in a day did ye? You won't win a good woman in a day neither."

Liam leaned over the desk and kissed the Madame on the cheek. "Thank you. Wish me luck."

Adrianna waved him off. "Good luck lad, and make sure to come here while yer being patient."

Liam laughed and walked out, whistling slightly and sinking his hands into his pockets. Madame Adrianna was right. He wasn't going to give up on Olivia without a fight. In the meantime, he should have put a silencing spell on the wall between their bedrooms a long time ago.

----

I thought this was deserving of an M, but I've never been totally clear on where the M/T line is drawn on the sex stuff. So, review about what you like, and also tell me if you think this is deserving of an M or not. If it isn't, I may switch it back to T and keep it at this level.


	17. Chapter 17

"Come on sleepy head." Olivia's voice and the hammering on his door that accompanied it jarred Liam awake, and he groaned. Olivia and Taybur had been silent when he got back to his room late that night, but he didn't want to be woken to any early morning antics, so he'd laid a silencing spell on the wall. He'd decided to take the time to make the spell so it only filtered out the sounds of bedding. A spell that complex would guarantee that exhaustion would overwhelm him so his thoughts before sleep claimed him wouldn't return to an endless contemplation of the woman who now dragged him into consciousness. The spell had taken him a long time and drained a significant portion of his gift. He'd only finished a few meager hours before dawn, meaning that Olivia's just past dawn wake up left him even grumpier then he'd already been. "Get up you lazy cur," she shouted.

Mithros, the girl sounded positively _bouncy_. "Go away," he yelled, pulling a pillow over his head.

"No. Time for our morning run. Get up. Get up. Get up."

He shouted a curse at her through the door, his temper stretched to breaking. He heard the door open and footsteps moving quickly across room, then suddenly the breath went out of him as Olivia leaped onto him.

"Arg," Liam flipped over, accidentally sending her crashing off the bed.

"Ow." Olivia sat up and rubbed her back, pouting.

"That's what you get," Liam growled, pulling the blanket over his head.

Olivia reached out and grabbed him by the arm, trying to leverage herself to toss him on the floor next to her. Liam struggled, but rather than stay in bed or land on the floor next Olivia, he ended up laying flat on top of her, his chest against hers. Their faces were close together, and Olivia blushed, rolling him off of her. "You oaf. I think you broke six of my ribs."

"Six?" Liam said with a lazy grin, still on his back. "Isn't that a little excessive on the exaggeration front?"

Olivia rolled on her side and propped herself up on her elbow. She smiled at him, a loose, comfortable grin that was at once so beautiful and so out of character that it took him a moment to process her words. "I guess I just woke up feeling full of life today."

Unable to stop himself, he reached out and touched her face, jealous that it wasn't his actions that made her look so free. "You're in a good mood today."

Olivia ducked her head and shrugged, making Liam curse silently as he saw her armor go up again. To his surprise, he could actually see her push the feeling away and look up at him, her expression still open. "I'm happier than I've been in as long as I can remember."

Liam stood up abruptly. "So, you going to move to the Cooper Isles now?" he said, turning away and trying to disguise his pain.

Olivia stood up as well, looking at him through narrowed eyes. "The Cooper Isles? You think this is about Taybur? It is, sort of, but it's because he was asking me about you and the others. I was talking about everything here and everyone I met and especially about you and I just realized," Olivia broke off, looking down at her hands. She let out a breath and looked up at him. "I'm happy here. I have fun, with newly found family members and friends."

Liam smiled, momentarily satisfied with her acknowledgement that he was important to her. "We like you too, but come on, Taybur is part of the good mood. Admit it."

Olivia giggled. "Well, you're not the only one in the world who enjoys certain activities."

He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Speaking of which, I put a spell up so that neither of us will hear each other's canoodling anymore."

Olivia grinned. "Couldn't take your own medicine, eh? Now come on. No more stalling. Time to run. It would be a shame for all that food you eat to actually show up on your body."

Liam snorted. "Not likely."

Olivia leaned forward and pinched the skin above his hip teasingly. "Already forming," she said, shaking her head sadly.

Liam swatted her away. "Are you going to stay in here while I get dressed?"

Olivia stretched slowly, reaching her arms out above her head and arching her back. "We swam together everyday. I'm not going to be surprised by anything I see. I'll close my eyes if that makes you feel better."

Liam threw a pillow at her, but walked over to his wardrobe and pulled on clothes. "How do you make me do these things? I have had no sleep. I don't want to run. I want to lay on my bed and not get out of it for the whole day."

Olivia grinned at him. "Darling, who doesn't want to just stay in bed all day?"

Liam rolled his eyes, pretending that he hadn't just instantly imagined spending the day with her curled up naked next to him on his bed. "Let's go."

They quickly worked through their morning routine. Liam had actually managed to keep up with Olivia through her exercises for the first time ever, only to have his elation interrupted by Taybur's voice. "Well, that was quite impressive."

Olivia turned around and smiled. She walked over and leaned on the low fence of the practice courts, looking up at Taybur. "Why thank you. It's taken several weeks for me to get Liam in shape, but I'm really quite proud of him."

Taybur laughed. "Well, I'm positive if I tried that I would look about as graceful as an elephant dancing, but you two looked amazing."

Liam cursed internally. Did the man have to be so likable? He turned and forced a smiled. "It's quite a workout. You really should try it some time."

"I think I'll leave it to you two experts and stick to simple weapons training. It would be undignified of me to make a fool of myself while I'm playing ambassador, which I'm absolutely positive is what would happen if I tried to do that." He smiled at Olivia. "Do you still want to go for a ride?"

Olivia nodded, coyly tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Well, Liam and I usually go on a ride about now. You're welcome to come with us."

"Actually, I have a message from Dunai. She requested his highness' presence. Apparently, she thinks she can wheedle information out of you."

"Mithros. Time for the interrogation. I always end up telling her more than I mean to, but it used to be about people's personal life, now it's going to be about important things that I'm really not suppose to tell."

"Good luck," Olivia said, kissing him on the cheek and turning back to Taybur.

"Have a nice ride," Liam said, turning his back on their flirtation and heading for the baths.

Once he bathed, he made his way up to the room where Aly was staying. He knocked and entered when summoned. George smiled when Liam walked in and stood up. "Try not to tell her everything lad," he said, patting Liam on the shoulder as he left the two of them alone.

Aly patted the seat next to her. "How are you?" she asked with a grin.

Liam looked at her suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

Aly laughed, searching his face. "Are you in love with her?" she asked softly.

Liam sighed and leaned back, covering his face with his arm. "Can't you just ask me about the country?"

"I am. Are you going to marry Kendra?"

"Mother's against it. Father's for it. I'm letting them figure it out."

"You've gotten worse at lying since I left." Aly cocked her head, looking him over. "I'm guessing that there is a reason you are stringing this out. I know she's a nasty sort and she hits the servants. No way Thayet will let you marry someone like that, which begs the question. What exactly are you dragging this out for? Which brings me back to my first question. Are you in love with Olivia?"

"You think we are dragging this out so because I'm in love with Olivia? You've definitely lost your touch."

"No. I think you are dragging it out because Olivia is planning a rebellion. However, if you are in love with her I think the amount of Tortall's support for the rebellion may increase. If you can convince her to love you back, well then there's a new marriage arrangement and treaty right there if the rebellion succeeds. Now, are you in love with her?"

"She's not in love with me, so what does it matter."

"I'll decide whether or not she's in love with you."

Liam sat up and looked at her. "You think there's a chance she loves me?"

Aly laughed. "Well, you answered my question. Unfortunately for you, I ask questions. I don't answer them. Besides, you need to figure it out yourself."

"She seems fairly occupied with other people."

"You mean Taybur? You ask me, both of them are just scratching an itch. Now, what's going on with my darling brothers? I heard unconfirmed rumors about Thom and some woman at the university. Do you know anything? Hopefully, it isn't serious or mother will be devastated. We all know she was secretly hoping to rope Lady Knight Keladry into the family."

"Alanna loves you more than she loves Kel," Liam said shrewdly.

Aly smiled. "I know," she said quietly. "We're okay these days actually. Me and Ma. We actually understand each other when we speak. It's interesting. Maybe it's having children of my own, but suddenly I see things from her side."

"How are your children?"

"My twins are lovely and energetic and doubtless keeping my poor husband busy."

"Why didn't you bring them?"

"They're too young for a sea journey, especially when there's a chance they'll react like Ma. So, are all Ma's matchmaking plans dashed?"

"I don't know about Thom, but her dreams may be dashed anyways. Olivia insists that Kel and Domitan of Masbolle are going to end up together."

Aly giggled. "He's Neal's cousin isn't he? I hope I'm around to see Neal's face when he finds out."

----

Man, I really struggled with this chapter. All the dialogue still feels really forced to me, but I can't really think of a way to fix it. I hate filler chapters--I need them so I don't just press through plot point after plot point at a ridiculous speed and develop characters and all that, but they really can be hell to write sometimes. Hope you enjoyed this more than I did. Review please!

P.S. The action is probably going to pick up fairly soon here. I'm so excited. I really like what I have planned for Olivia and Liam, even if it is ridiculous.


	18. Chapter 18

Liam sat next to Alan at the small party thrown that night to honor Aly's presence. It was pleasant, with only the nearest and dearest there, but rather than enjoy one of the rare times when Liam was surrounded by people he liked and could relax around, his shoulders stayed tense and his conversation forced. Despite his insistence to himself that he would not be bothered by Taybur, he still remained painfully aware of their conversation on the other side of his room. Her laughter drifted across the room occasionally, causing his chest to tighten uncomfortably even as he and Alan talked about ways to increase the number of enlisted soldiers and train them better.

Alan had turned to talk to Raoul for a moment, leaving Liam with nothing better to do then glance over at Olivia. To his surprise she turned and looked at him. Her smiled turned to a slight frown as she looked him over, and she touched Taybur on the arm and whispered something in his ear before moving across the room to Liam. She sat down next to him and touched his shoulder lightly. "Are you alright? You look upset."

Liam shook his head. "Just tired."

Olivia's frowned again, reaching out to touch his face. "You can tell me."

Liam turned his head and kissed her palm, telling himself she would think it nothing more than a friendly gesture. "It's nothing. I was just talking with Alan about some things with the army that brought up some old worries."

"Such as." Olivia placed her hand in her lap, smoothing the fabric of her pale pink dress.

"Treatment of commoner soldiers. There are plenty of lords that would have us send them out poorly trained, poorly equipped and forced into service. Tortall has the advantage of a large population. I find such an argument immoral and counter-productive, but the house of lords disagrees with me. It makes funding soldier training in peacetime difficult."

Olivia nodded slowly, still frowning. "That's really what's bothering you?" she asked, still searching his face.

Liam shrugged. "I just felt a little off all day."

Olivia smiled. "We all have those days. You should go to sleep after the party. I can work on weapons alone tonight. I could probably ask Taybur to come with me anyways."

Liam looked away, knowing his feelings of abandonment would show. "I don't mind training with you, but if you want alone time with Taybur I understand."

"I don't mind either way. I like training with you."

Liam nodded and an awkward silence descended on them as they both looked down and tried to think of something to say.

"Aly seems nice," Olivia finally said.

"I'm not sure nice is the word I'd use. Interesting, perhaps, or coercive even."

Olivia laughed. "She does make you want to spill your deepest darkest secrets. I was a little unnerved by how much she had either guessed or found out about me."

"Well, she was bred to find out as much information as possible from her cradle. She and George are very alike."

Olivia glanced over to where Aly and George were talking with a few others. "It's obvious how close they are," she commented, her eyes sad.

"She and Alanna fought all the time, if that makes you feel better."

Olivia laughed. "I was just missing the family I do have actually. I never wanted a relationship with his majesty."

"What family?"

"My grandmother and my grandfather, and my mother's friend is practically family. They're pretty much all I have, but something about George and Aly just makes me think of Appa."

"What's he like? Appa I mean."

Olivia shrugged. "I haven't seen Korintha around lately."

Liam frowned at the subject change, but let it go. "I think Lerant's close call may have scared her into a one man lifestyle."

"Do you miss her?"

"A little, actually. She had a unique way of looking at things."

"Meaning she put you in your place."

"Well, I have you for that now. But it was nice to have someone who was fun to talk to in the morning."

"I had no idea my job was to put you in your place."

"You seem to take great joy in it, so perhaps it's a hobby rather than a job."

Olivia laughed, leaning back on the couch, slipping her shoes off and reaching down to massage her calf through her skirt. "Are you still grumpy from your lack of sleep? People are filtering out now; you could probably escape to your bed."

"I thought we were going to go train with weapons."

"Honestly, my calf has been bothering me all day, and my silly shoes only made it worst." Olivia winced as she pointed her toe out.

"Still that cramp from this morning?" Liam leaned down and picked her legs up, putting them in his lap so she could stretch further.

"Yes. I can't really get a good angle to massage that knot out."

"Want me to do it."

"I'm fairly certain that would make your father even crankier than he already is."

"What do you mean?"

Olivia jerked her head across the room, where Jonathan was tapping his fingers on the armrest of his chair. Seeing his son look at him, he sighed and shook his head slowly. Liam grinned. "I bet I can make him turn purple."

"But what about my reputation, dear sir."

"There's only ten people left in the room, and I'm fairly certain almost all of them know your sleeping with Taybur."

"Slept with, once. Don't exaggerate." She grimaced slightly as Liam slid his hands under her skirt and up her calf, kneading the hard knot.

"You are so planning to sleep with him again."

Olivia hissed slightly, then breathed out and leaned her head back. "That feels amazing. It's finally loosening, and I'm not actually."

Liam looked up at her, surprised. "Why not? I thought you liked him."

"I do, but repeat performances lead to complications."

"He's only going to be here for a few weeks. I don't see how things could get complicated." Liam kicked himself mentally, even as the words came out of his mouth. Why in the name of Mithros was he encouraging this?

"I suppose you're right. It was fun too. I don't want to deal with Queen Bitch if she finds out though."

Liam laughed, gentling his massage of her calf as he felt the knot disappear. "Would she care?"

Olivia sighed. "She and father would probably use it as an excuse to keep me even further confined when I go back. Still, she was never good at getting gossip out of people. I doubt she'll find out, and they'll probably confine me anyways just for being friends with you."

"Don't go back then. Stay here."

"Don't tempt me. Goddess, you are good at this. That knot is completely gone."

Liam smiled, pulling his hands out from under her skirt and placing them over her legs. "I'm tempting you. Stay. You said yourself you're happy here."

"Jasper wants me to stay too, but I have family and friends in Saren. The problem is I'm not allowed to see them, but I can't just leave them either. So, is your father purple?" Olivia asked, her eyes closed as she lay further back on the couch.

Liam looked over and was surprised by what he saw. Jon was talking to Thayet and Alanna, a resigned-looking smile on his face. He caught Liam's eye and gave the slightest nod. "No. I don't think he was paying attention," Liam said, looking back at Olivia again. "But don't change the subject. You should stay. You're no use to anyone caged up in a palace in Saren. We could use you here, and you could build support here. We have a lot of well-trained K'mir's who live here and remember where they came from. Promise me you'll think about it."

Olivia opened her eyes and looked at him. Finally, she nodded. "I'll think about it," said softly.

"Perhaps you need to see more of Corus to convince you stay. Want to go to the markets with me tomorrow?"

"That could be fun. I was thinking how much I like the dangling earrings that are in style here. Maybe I'll try and find a pair."

"As long as we can go to Raven armory at least part of the time, I'll pour over jewelry for awhile at least."

When Olivia didn't respond, Liam followed her gaze across the room. Taybur was standing near the door. He had his hand out towards her and was raising his eyebrows suggestively. Olivia giggled and pulled her feet off of Liam. She bent over and picked up her shoes, then leaned over and kissed Liam on the cheek. "I think you're right. I deserve a little more fun. Thanks for the advice. I'll see you tomorrow for our run."

She stood up, the light, gauzy material of her skirt covering her bare feet as she padded across the room and took Taybur's arm. Liam gritted his teeth as he watched them leave. The feel of her skin beneath his fingers, and the touch of her lips on his cheek allowed him to imagine what it would feel like to be in Taybur's place even more vividly than before. He sighed and got up, pausing to say good bye to Aly and ignoring the looks he was getting from his parents before walking out of the palace and heading towards Madame Adrianna's.

----

Review!


	19. Chapter 19

"What is wrong with her?" Alanna asking, observing the obvious tension on her young cousin's face as she spoke to various nobles at the ball. Olivia was doing a poor job of disguising her emotions, playing with the heavy dark fabric of her simple dress and snapping her fan open and shut. The dress was unusually weighty for her. She wore no corset, but the oppressive fabric still clung to her, the oppressive skirt enclosing her legs in the traditional way she usually flouted. She wore none of the jewelry that she usually wore, not even Thayet's necklace that she'd rarely taken off adorned her neck. Even from where he was across the room, Liam could tell that every muscle in her body was tightly coiled. She looked ready to pounce.

"I don't know. She was fine two days ago when we went to the market, but she was a little quiet yesterday, and today she's walked around like there's a black cloud over her. She's even more withdrawn than normal and she won't talk about it," Liam said, watching her stare out the window, clearly not listening to whatever Taybur was saying to her.

"Seems like a family trait," Jon said dryly.

"Just because I didn't talk to you doesn't mean I didn't talk to anyone," Alanna responded tartly, making her husband chuckle lightly. "I hope she has someone to talk to."

"Perhaps she'll talk to Taybur," Liam said flatly, refusing to acknowledge the looks they gave him.

Queen Lorinda and Princess Kendra approached Olivia, drawing her aside. Olivia had her back to the room, but the fake smiles plastered across the face of the other two women as they hissed words out between their clenched teeth revealed the tension between them.

"Don't you dare!" Olivia's shout echoed across the room, causing everyone to stare at her. She was tightening her fists, but rather then hit either woman, she turned around sharply, storming out to the gardens.

"Wait, mother, Alanna, let me go after her," Liam said.

Alanna grabbed Thayet's arm to stop her and nodded to Liam. Liam walked outside and paused, looking around for Olivia, but not seeing her. He was about to walk further into the gardens, when he heard a muffled sob to his right. The castle jutted out slightly, and he walked around the wall to find Olivia hidden in the corner, her shoulders shaking from her sobs.

"Olivia," Liam said softly.

"You," Olivia hissed, turning around sharply to look at him. "How can you even think of marrying that self-righteous bitch?"

When he moved closer to her, she shoved him roughly away. "You just keep continuing it. All of you royals and nobles. Just moving through women. Don't care about anyone else. Controlling people. That's what all of you do. Order people around. Destroy lives. That's what royalty does. Letting her think she can have you," she cried, her voice hysterical.

She reached out and shoved him again, but rather than fall back Liam wrapped his arms around her, holding her close even as she slammed her fists against him. "Olivia, stop it," he whispered into her hair. "Please, Olivia. Hush. You're okay."

Her blows weakened as he murmured comforts to her, until finally he felt her collapse against him, sobbing. He could feel her fight to regain control over herself as he rubbed circles on her back, and she breathed in deeply as she tried to quiet her tears. At last she pulled away and looked up at him. The pain in her eyes nearly knocked the wind out of him. Holding her so close, he did the first thing he could think of to comfort her: he moved the few inches between them and kissed her sweetly on the lips. She pulled back almost immediately, looking up at him for a moment, an inscrutable expression on her face, before closing the gap between them once again and pressing her lips against his. She relaxed her body, sliding her arms around his neck and pressing herself against him. He caressed her lips with his, parting them as he slowly deepened the kiss. She returned his tenderness as he ran his fingers along her back and slowly over her skirt, tugging his shirt out of his breeches and slipping a hand up over his chest and reaching back along his shoulder blades.

He lifted her carefully and pressed her against the wall, kissing her along the neck as he pulled her skirt up until he was standing between her bare thighs. She leaned forward to unlace his breeches and slid them down, wrapping her legs around him. Without thought or hesitation, he pushed her loincloth aside, sliding easily into her. She gasped softly and placed her hands on either side of his face, bringing his lips back to hers as he moved inside of her. The naturalness of the act overwhelmed him. Never had anything felt so right to Liam as this moment, with her rocking with him, matching his rhythm as she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. He kissed her along the newly exposed skin, teasingly grazing his teeth against her. Feeling her tighten around him, Liam groaned, pleasure building until he released inside of her. Olivia let out a deep breath, then leaned forward and placed her forehead on the crook of Liam's neck. As her breathing slowed, her tears began to flow again.

Liam closed his eyes, berating himself for taking advantage of Olivia's state. He wrapped his arms around her gently, stroking her back and making comforting noises as tears trickled down her face. A few minutes later, Olivia gave a watery giggle.

"What?" Liam said.

"We're quite a sight if anyone cares to look," Olivia replied.

Liam chuckled slightly and pulled away. He tugged up his breeches as Olivia smoothed her skirts. Olivia looked up at him and smiled before finger combing his hair back into place. She moved to leave, but Liam stopped her. He gently rubbed a thumb under each of her eyes, erasing the kohl that had dripped down her face with her tears.

"How do I look?" Olivia asked.

"Beautiful," Liam whispered. "Like always. I'm not going to marry her, Olivia. We're dragging it out to give you the time you need. Now, come dance with me."

Olivia shook her head and moved to walk away. "I'm going to go back to my room. I can't face them tonight."

Liam wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him so her back was against his chest and kissing her neck. "Why are you so upset?"

"Lori and Kendra were just being really nasty."

"You were tense before that." Liam turned her head gently, forcing her to look at him. "Just tell me."

Olivia's eyes welled up. "I can't. Please, Liam."

Liam kissed her on the temple. "I'll tell people you weren't feeling well. I'll come by afterwards."

Olivia shook her head, pulling back and wiping her tears away in a businesslike manner. "Don't bother. I'm fine, Liam. I appreciate the comfort, but what just happened isn't going to happen again."

She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for being a friend," she added. She walked back to her room quickly, leaving Liam speechless behind her. Eventually, Liam made his way back to the ball, going through the motions of the evening. At last it ended, and he went back to his room. He began undressing when he heard a sob from Olivia's room. Not stopping to think, he used the passageway to go into her room. He opened the door without knocking and saw Olivia sitting on her bed, wearing a nightdress. Her hair was braided simply down her back and her makeup was gone. He walked over and sat on the bed, tugging her against his chest and stroking her hair as she cried.

"Olivia, tell me what's going on," he said firmly.

"She died today," Olivia finally whispered.

"Who?"

"My mother. It's the anniversary of her beheading."

Liam breathed in sharply and tightened his grip on her.

"Jasper always spends the day alone. That's why he wasn't at the ball, but I don't. I hate the loneliness, and I'm worried about him."

"About Jasper?'

Olivia shook her head. "About my mother's first husband," she finally said, her voice resigned. "We usually spend the day together."

"You mean Appa? Your mother's friend. Don't you?"

Olivia nodded. "His real name is Max, Maximus. Appa is what I call him. It means uncle. They were married under K'mir rites, even though he isn't one. He's just a commoner, a horse breeder. K'mir rites weren't recognized as legitimate until Saren began seeking trade with Tortall, so the King just said it never happened and forced her to marry him. Then he beheaded her."

Liam hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. Olivia looked up and smiled at him. "You really are a good man," she said, reaching up to touch his face. Slowly, she moved her face towards his and kissed him shyly. He responded, moving his hand to cradle her cheek.

"I thought you said this wasn't going to happen again." Liam pulled back slightly, searching her face in an attempt to read her feelings.

Olivia smiled and curled into him, kissing him again. She sighed and leaned her forehead against him, idly playing with the thin gold chain on which hung a pregnancy charm. "I just want the pain to go away."

Liam turned his head and caught her lips with his and then pulled the blankets out from under her. Olivia smiled and got under them. "Are you turning me down?" Olivia asked.

Liam smiled back at her and touched her hair. "Trust me, if you want this tomorrow, when you wake up, I'll be more than happy to comply."

Olivia smiled slightly. "Honorable too. In your way." Liam moved to leave, but Olivia reached out a hand and stopped him. "Please," she said softly. "Stay."

Liam nodded and slid under the covers, lying on his side facing her. She cuddled close to him and he rubbed her back, watching her until she fell asleep. Despite a small part of his brain that still told him he shouldn't have even kissed her in the first place, he couldn't help but enjoy her closeness. Her breath blew gently against his chest, and she fit so comfortably against him. He closed his eyes and gave into sleep, his last thought a hope that she wanted him for more than just comfort.

---

Happy now? Review and tell me (even if your not)!


	20. Chapter 20

Liam woke up and was instantly aware of the warm body curled into him. He opened his eyes and dark red hair filled his vision. Instantly, he realized the hue was not what he'd woken up to the day before. It was not Fiona lying in his arms. Olivia. The night came back as a hazy dream of passion and incredible comfort. He pulled back just enough to see her face, relieved to see that her tension had smoothed out in the night. She looked utterly peaceful as she slumbered, her breath warm against his neck. He wrapped his arms a little tighter around her, and she mumbled slightly, moving forward and just barely pressing her lips against his neck before her breathing returned to its previous steady rhythm.

Does she know it's me? Liam wondered. Does she think it's Taybur she is sleeping beside, or one of her previous lovers? The peace that had settled over him at first dissipated as he worried that she would push him away when she woke. He considered sneaking out of the room and letting her decide whether to find him, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her. This felt so incredibly right, surely she would feel the same.

His whole body tightened as she began to move, reaching her hands up over her head and stretching her body in such a way that made him heady with desire. Slowly, she opened her eyes and smiled.

"Hey you," she said quietly, immediately assuaging most of his worries as she folded back into him.

"Hey you," he replied quietly. He was silent for a moment, reaching his hand to stroke her face softly.

Olivia smiled up at him in amusement, cocking her head slightly. "What are you waiting for?" she finally asked.

Liam grinned and instantly leaned down and kissed her. He rolled over on top of her, tugging her nightgown up and over her head before returning to her lips. He ran his hands over her body, nuzzling her neck as he cupped one of her breasts and slid his thumb lightly over her nipple. She gasped, eyes closed, content to let him take control for the moment. "Liam."

There it was, his name on her lips. He was the one making her cry out with desire. He paused and sat back on his heels between her legs, suddenly needing to see all of her. She opened her eyes when he stopped touching her, smiling when she saw him studying her form. Gently, he placed his hands on either side of her thighs, gradually moving up over her well-rounded hips, dipping inward at her small but soft waist and widening again as he moved up her ribcage and over the sides of her breasts.

"You are so beautiful," he breathed out, moving his hands to caress her stomach. He'd expected it to be hard like Korintha's, but it was surprisingly supple. He found the slight give of her stomach oddly comforting and he leaned down to kiss it, biting down gently as she giggled.

"You're not too bad yourself, tiger." He grinned against her stomach before kissing slowly up her body until he reached her lips. She arched her back and slid one foot up against his leg, making an irritated noise when she reached his breeches. Liam laughed and pulled his breeches off, before returning to kissing her lips.

As always, his hands took over, but this time he revealed in every touch. Rather than feel a simply brief pride in his abilities, he felt incredibly lucky to be allowed to touch her. "Please, Liam," she moaned in his ear.

He eased off both of their loincloths at her words and pushed into her, once again immediately aware of how right it felt. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders and kissed him hard. As he began moving faster, she suddenly tightened her thighs around his hips and flipped him over so she straddled him.

Seeing his look of surprise, Olivia grinned. "What? You thought I was going to let you control things the whole time?"

She stretched her arms up and placed them behind her head, looking up at the ceiling as she rocked her hips roughly against him. Liam groaned as she moved, placing his hands on her thighs and closing his eyes, just letting go. When they'd both finished, Olivia laid down next to him, her head on his chest.

"We should get up," Olivia said.

Rather than respond, Liam turned and slid his legs around hers, pinning her to him as she kissed her neck and locked his arms around her. "You're not going anywhere," he murmured.

Olivia laughed. "They'll come looking for us fairly soon."

"We can leave a note in my room saying I took you to the temple district to pray for the day, and we'll be back for dinner."

"You want to stay in bed all day and use praying as a cover?"

Liam nodded, and Olivia laughed once again, sending reverberations through his chest.

"Alright, but you better hurry up and do that. People are use to us having already run, bathed and be up and about by now."

Reluctantly, Liam unwound himself from Olivia and tugged on his breeches. He leaned down to kiss her firmly on the lips before departing through the passage. He pulled out parchment and a quill and scribbled a quick note, which he left out in his front room.

He returned and sat down on the bed, pulling the sheet off of Olivia. "You are so beautiful," he said, slowly trailing his fingers over her body.

Olivia smiled and turned her head towards him. "Liam, you've probably slept with over a hundred women, at least. I know I'm decently pretty. But I am not the most beautiful woman in the world. Nothing close. Most would even say Kendra was prettier than me. I have nice coloring and decent features, though my nose is slightly crooked from when I broke it falling off a horse. I have decently-sized breasts and wide hips and a little bit of fat around my waist. My legs are fairly nice, except for the scars on my knees. But really, I am not the sort of woman who people drop their jaw over, nor am I so insecure that I need to be told I am beautiful all the time."

Liam shook his head. "I have slept with a lot more than a hundred women, and maybe some men would think some of them were more beautiful then you, but I think they are idiots."

He kissed her knees. "The scratch scars on your knees are beautiful, they tell me you ran around and fell down as a little girl." He kissed her hips. "Your hips are beautiful because they give you strength." He kissed her stomach. "Your waist is beautiful because it is warm and soft and comforting." He kissed each of her breasts. "You and I both know that your breasts are beautiful." He kissed her lips. "Your lips are beautiful because I have never met a pair that feels so right against mine." He kissed her nose. "Your nose is beautiful, its crookedness tells me you're tough." He kissed of each of her eyes. "I'd say your eyes were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, but there are kind of creepy implications there that make me think of Aunt Alanna, so I won't." Olivia giggled as he kissed the top of her head. "Your hair is the most beautiful color I've ever seen, plus it covers your lovely mind which is endlessly entertaining. Kendra doesn't hold a candle to you."

Olivia smiled and pulled him down to kiss him on the lips. "You are ridiculous."

Liam smiled against her lips. "And you are beautiful."

A knock sounded at the door. "Olivia, are you in there?"

"Is that your mother?"

Liam nodded. "Just be quiet."

"Olivia, let us in," Alanna called.

"I didn't lock the door," Olivia hissed.

Liam cursed quietly, leaping out of bed and grabbing his clothes. "They will come in if they are worried enough about you."

Olivia hopped out of bed and grabbed her nightgown, tugging it over her head and running into the passageway. Liam ran in after her, shutting the door quietly.

Almost immediately after Liam closed the door, they heard the two women walk in.

One of them sighed. "I wonder where she is," Alanna said.

"She must be with Liam. Hopefully, she told him what was going on and he was able to help," Thayet replied.

Liam wrapped his arms around Olivia and kissed her on the neck. "Was I able to help?" he whispered. Rather than respond, Olivia tilted her head and kissed him warmly.

"Well, we can check his room."

Neither spoke for a moment, then Alanna asked, "Are you coming?"

"What do you think is going on between them?"

"I think they are friends," Alanna replied.

"Come on. There's more."

"I think Liam wants there to be more, and I think Olivia does too, but she's hiding it from herself. It's only a matter of time before they act on that." Olivia nodded, even as she continued kissing Liam.

"Do you think they love each other?" Thayet asked. Both Liam and Olivia paused at the question.

"Why are you asking me?"

"You know exactly why I'm asking you." At Thayet's words, Liam shifted his weight, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"She's not me and he's not him. She was born with a crown on her head. He was too, but not with a throne before him. She sometimes thinks before she speaks. He doesn't always think before he speaks. But I can't read her mind or his."

"Are you saying you think they could actually marry and be happy?" Olivia stepped away from Liam at the question, looking at the floor and blushing faintly.

"I'm saying I think only they can know that," Alanna replied.

"I think they could. I even want them to. I talked Jon into being alright with a marriage between them. After all, Saren will be angry if we say no to Kendra, which will happen. Marrying Olivia would be great for Tortall if they succeed in putting Jasper on the throne, and maybe we could try and use it to get some treaty if they don't. You know, I watch them and I just see the happiness of their future lives together. She's the first person I ever met who I thought could make Liam happy, and he could make her happy too. I even see the grandchildren they would produce."

Alanna laughed. "Don't tell people that, especially not them. Come on. Let's go to Liam's room."

Even after they left, Liam and Olivia stayed in the passageway, frozen in shock and horror as Thayet's words reverberated in both their minds.

-------

This story is going to be sooooo long......like maybe even 40 chapters.....oops.......Review!


	21. Chapter 21

Liam broke the silence first with a deep laugh, his face still a deep shade of red. "My mother is still better at embarrassing me than anyone else in the world. This is even worse then the time when she talked about how I tended to get a rash under my diaper in front of three court women."

Olivia laughed outright. "That's horrifying. Goddess, I can't believe her. I never suspected her for a meddling mother."

"Neither did I for that matter. She always seemed far more content to let me go my own way then my father."

"That's what she did this time too I suppose. She's just clearing all the paths for you. She's a good mother, but just because she cleared the path doesn't mean you have to take it."

"So we can just pretend we didn't hear that?"

"Possibly, but you need to know. I won't walk down that path with you. It won't happen. My father would never allow it. Thayet may think you can get something out of it, but all there would be is war, and I need to support my brother if we succeed." Olivia looked him straight in the eye. "What we have to ask ourselves is, is this worth it? Worth the risk of one or both of us getting too involved?"

Liam walked forward and kissed her hard on the mouth, holding her to him possessively. "Of course it's worth it. Besides, this is all in good fun right," Liam said lightly, afraid she'd pull away if she knew how he actually felt.

Olivia smiled, instantly relieved by his words. "Right."

Liam grinned and kissed her again, fumbling behind him to open the door and lead her back to the bed as the kiss deepened. He was leading her to the bed when she pulled away.

"What?" he mumbled, mind fuzzy with desire. Olivia walked across the room to the door and locked it. Liam laughed as she pulled her nightgown off, throwing it to the side with a flourish. She climbed on the bed and quickly unlaced his breeches, sliding them off and tossing them next to her clothes.

She lay down next to him and smiled. "We don't need clothes, right?"

Liam snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her sweetly. "That's correct. Clothes are in fact officially outlawed in this room for the next few hours."

When Liam leaned forward to kiss her again, Olivia pulled back with a grin. Frowning, Liam moved forward again, but she dodged his lips and giggled again.

"Are you trying to torture me?" he asked. Olivia nodded happily, and he said, "Well, if I can't kiss you, I'll have to find something else to do."

Quickly, he wrapped her in his arms and rolled on top of her, reaching his fingers down to tickle her sides. Olivia screeched and tried to push him off of her. "No tickling," she hollered, giggling uncontrollably. Finally, desperately, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. He stopped tickling her instantaneously, responding eagerly. They'd been kissing for long enough that Liam had loss complete track of time, when Olivia pulled away.

"Do I need to tickle you again?" Liam asked

Olivia shook her head. "No, it's just there's one wrinkle in our naked plan."

"What's that?" Liam asked idly, running his forefinger along her forearm.

Olivia's stomach growled. "That's the problem."

Liam grinned and leaned forward kissing her stomach. "Hm, what are we going to do about that? I may have to put breeches back on."

Olivia sighed. "We may have to suspend the rule momentarily while we stock up on food."

"Are you sure your need for food is worth me being partially clothed?"

Olivia blew out a deep breath, sitting up and inspecting him. "Most definitely."

Liam hrumphed, but got out of bed and put his clothes on. He snuck down to the kitchens and stole food for the first time since his page years, coming back with fruit, bread and cheese. He took off his clothes and climbed in next to Olivia with the food platter. Olivia giggled and reached for an orange, peeling it efficiently. She offered him a section then snatched it away at the last moment and popped it into her own mouth.

Liam stuck out his lower lip in a fake pout, causing Olivia to laugh once again. "Aw, ohmi," Olivia said, pulling off another slice and feeding it to him. She refused to let him have the last slice, stuffing it in her mouth quickly as he lunged for it. In her hurry, she let juice run down her chin. Liam laughed and leaned over, licking her chin.

"Gross." Olivia pushed him off of her, laughing again. Liam handed her some cheese and bread and they ate in a companionable silence. Liam watched Olivia's face the whole time, noticing the shadows return to her face as her thoughts wandered.

"Olivia," Liam said softly. When she didn't respond, he reached out and touched her cheek. "Come back, sweet."

Olivia turned and smiled sadly. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Want to tell me about it?"

Olivia shrugged. "What is there to say?"

"Tell me about her, or him."

Olivia leaned against his chest, closing her eyes as she said, "I remember very little of her. I was so young when she died, but I've cherished every memory and remembered it over and over, basically written them into my mind so I won't forget. She was very short and slender, not like me. She had almost golden colored skin and her hair was even darker red then mine. Her eyes were violet. She was hard, tough. She told me I always had to be tough. My spirit was my greatest asset and I couldn't let it be broken. She'd tell me that everyday, and even when I was barely speaking she'd make me repeat it back. She told us K'miri stories and sang K'miri songs. She wanted us to know about our people. She did those exercises I do every morning. I only remember hearing her laugh once. Perhaps she did and I don't remember, but I remember at the time being confused by it. Appa had managed to get in the castle, and they were standing together a little away from my crib. He whispered in her ear, his hand at her waist, and suddenly she threw her head back and laughed. I asked him about it once, and he said that making her laugh made him happier then anything else in the world. That her laugh was what he missed the most, her laugh and her fire. He's says there's few women in the world with fire like hers. He's like a shadow of himself. I can't remember him really before she died, besides that one memory of her laughing, but you can see it. Every once in awhile it's like a veil is lifted and you realize that's what he use to be like, but most of the time he's a shadow of who he was. He still laughs and jokes, but rarely do the smiles every reach his eyes. He lost a part of himself with her. I don't ever want to lose myself that way."

Liam kissed her temple. "I bet he thinks it was worth it," he said softly, wondering if he'd ever be able to convince her to let herself love him.

Olivia sighed, then shook her head, as if she could banish all of her sadness. "Alright, I told you about them. Now can we canoodle again?" she said brightly.

"Hm," Liam said thoughtfully, moving onto his back. "I don't know."

Olivia grinned and straddled him, kissing him on the neck. "Come on tiger," she purred. "You know you're ready."

Liam grinned back at her. "You'll have to convince me."

Olivia began kissing slowly down his body, nibbling slightly at his skin as she went. "Let me know when you're convinced," she breathed.

Liam groaned hours later when the bells rang, signaling it was time to begin dressing for the formal dinner and ball that followed. "Do we have to go? We could pretend we were kidnapped and only escape in three weeks."

Olivia laughed. "Three weeks of this and I might get a little sore. I need a bath. Out with you."

Liam sighed and got out of bed. He went back to his own room and got dressed before calling a servant to bring him a bath. He bathed quickly and pulled on his own clothes, then returned to Olivia's room. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the neck, smiling at her in the mirror as she brushed her hair.

Olivia smiled back at him. "You're in the way."

Liam sighed dramatically and sat on the bed, watching her as she began pinning up her hair.

"I like that gown," he said, admiring the way her sapphire dress loosely hung to her curves. Cut similarly to the gown she'd worn when she'd first been presented at the court, it hugged her breasts then hung down gently, allowing her easy movement.

"You look very nice too, dear," she said, her tone mildly ironic. She switched to a more business-like tone. "Don't forget to act normally. Really, you should be paying more attention to Kendra anyways."

Liam groaned. "She's so boring though."

"She's no more boring then all the women you normally bed, besides Korintha obviously." Olivia placed the last pin in her hair, turning her head and admiring her handiwork.

"I know, but I never really had to listen to them that much. Besides, your way more interesting."

Olivia laughed and picked up her kohl. "Thank you, ohmi. My jewelry box is on the table over there. Will you bring me a few pieces to wear?"

"You're trusting me to choose your jewelry? I'm honored." Liam opened the box and sifted through its contents.

"Well, you did so well with that necklace you got last time, I guessed I could trust you."

Liam pulled out a silver cuff bracelet, sapphire stud earrings and a necklace made of a series of silver loops that began tight against the neck and continued loosening downwards. By the time he'd finished choosing, Olivia was putting the finishing touches on her lip paint. He handed her the earrings and bracelet, then hooked the necklace on her himself. He slid his arms around her waist, glad that this time he didn't have to pull away. Olivia put on the rest of the jewelry then smiled at him in the mirror.

"All silver to go with my sapphire dress? One might thing you were trying to turn me into a Conte princess."

Liam kissed her cheek. "I wouldn't dream of it. Blue and silver just go so well together. Are you ready to go?"

She lifted her skirts to reveal bare feet, then went to her wardrobe and opened it up. She frowned as she looked at her shoes, then selected a pair of plain silver shoes without any heels and very thin soles.

"No stockings?" Liam asked as she slipped her feet into them.

Olivia shook her head. "I like the freedom of bare legs beneath my gown, especially during warm summer months. With this dress and these shoes, I don't feel like I'm being hemmed in at all."

She opened the door, checking the halls then motioning to Liam to follow her. She took his arm and walked with him towards the dining room. "Don't forget to act the same," she instructed firmly.

"I flirt with you all the time anyways. People will be suspicious if I don't."

Olivia laughed. "Fine, but promise me you'll spend some time with Kendra. Making Lori too mad at me won't be good for either of us."

Liam sighed, but nodded, mentally preparing himself for another titillating evening speaking to Kendra and pretending he wasn't thinking only of Olivia.

----

Enjoy the fluff while you can people. Just saying. Can anyone guess what drama rama's happening next, hm? If you read carefully enough a few chapters back, you might actually know.......Sadly, my updating speed will slow some due to school really getting going again, but I mean I still do it at least twice a week, which isn't that bad right? Also, next chapter should be easier to write. I was debating whether or not to make this one pure fluff or not which is why it took so long. I think I'll be able to get the next chapter up fairly soon and it will be fuuuuun and not just silly fluff fun. Promise. Review!


	22. Chapter 22

Liam opened his eyes slowly, already moving closer to Olivia. Thirty days. He'd woken up next to her for thirty days straight. The best thirty days of his life. Days filled with love-making, witty conversation, exercise and careful control of emotions. As she snuggled into him without waking, he smiled. He ran a finger over her shoulder, down her ribcage and let his hand rest on the curve of her waist. Waking up to her warmth made him happy without even opening his eyes. Watching her stretch awake made him smile. Starting each day making love to her made him ecstatic. Exercising with her left him breathless. Talking to her made him laugh. Even making eye contact with her across a crowded room made him giddy. So this was love.

She raised her eyelids slowly, and Liam watched her long lashes move. "Hey you," she whispered.

"Hey you," he replied, leaning down to kiss her. Rather than melt into the kiss as she normally did, he felt her stiffen. He pulled back slightly, searching her face. "Are you alright?"

Olivia shrugged and got out of bed. "Just not in the mood, I guess. Plus, I have a lot of things to do."

She tugged on breeches and wrapped a breastband around her. Seeing the concerned look on his face, she leaned down and kissed him sweetly. "Sorry, I just have a few things on my mind that I need to take care of."

"Care to share?" Liam asked, sitting up and wrapping his arms around her waist so she couldn't leave.

"I'll tell you soon. I just need to sort it out myself first," Olivia replied, stroking his hair lightly as he kissed her stomach.

Liam raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Alright, let me know if I can help. I was thinking we could go get food this evening in the city. Will you be done by then?"

"Probably, I'll come find you before dinner if I can. Go without me if I don't get back by the dinner bell though."

She finished dressing quickly and pinned back her hair efficiently, pausing to kiss Liam on the cheek before she pulled on a long cloak and walked quickly out the door. Liam got out of bed and made his way back to his room, mulling over her odd behavior as he got dressed. He was about to leave for his morning run when a messenger knocked on the door and delivered a message from his father asking to meet him. Groaning internally, Liam made his way down to his father's study, knocked on the door and entered.

Seeing the large stack of papers his father had clearly already gone through that morning, Liam asked, "Is there a crisis or did mother get called out early?"

Jon looked up at him and wrinkled his brow. "What?"

"You only ever work really early in the morning if there is some sort of crisis or if you're too worried about mother to sleep."

Jon laughed. "She left last night to lend a hand with some bandits."

Liam nodded and slumped into the chair in front of Jon's desk. "She'll be fine. She always is."

"I know." Jon fiddled with his quill for a moment in an unusual display of uneasiness.

Liam sat up, and finally said, "Why did you want to see me?"

Jon let out a sigh. "You're sleeping with her."

Liam sat up straight. They'd been so careful. How did he know? Did many people know?

"Don't bother to deny it, and don't worry I doubt many others know, though George and Alanna and few others have probably guessed."

"How do you know?"

"I know the signs," Jon said with a small smile. "Even secret love affairs have signs the world can see if they know how to look for them."

Liam looked at his hands. "I couldn't help it," he said quietly.

"Do you love her?'

Liam nodded slowly.

"If you had no responsibilities, would you want to marry her?"

"Absolutely."

Jon sighed and sat back in his chair. "Does she love you?"

Liam shrugged. "I have no idea. She'll never admit it if she does anyways. She's terrified of love. For good reason too."

Jon put his quill down and looked his son in the eye. "Look, Liam. I pulled you in here because I realized something at last night's ball. I'd known about the affair for awhile and was unhappy with it, but figured it would pass. You know your duty, and I trusted you to do what's best for Tortall, but now I wonder if what's best for the kingdom is for you and Olivia to marry."

Liam sat up. "What?" he exclaimed.

"Your mother has been insistent that I let you marry her if it comes down to it, and I said fine because I was fairly certain you wouldn't actually forget your duty to Tortall. Roald's right. You love your soldiers too much to allow them more wars and less support so you could marry for love. However, what you will do for this country is be its general. I never had one, not like you anyways. Roald plans to turn the military almost entirely over to you. That's how much he trusts you. That's a weight. A terrible weight. The lives of so many will be in your hands, and I always worried because you never got close enough to anyone to let them help you bear that weight. I was glad to see you become friends with Olivia partially because I sensed you might actually let her in. After all, Alanna was probably the first person I ever confided it, although she was Alan then. But I still thought marriage was a bad idea. Then last night at the ball that idiot Lord started in on you for demanding that we put funds aside to train soldiers now, and I saw you about to yell. You were about to lose your temper and probably actually make it more difficult to get the House of Lords to fund the training. Then Olivia touched your arm and changed the subject, and the crisis was averted. I had decided she was Alanna, but she's really not. She'll be a good princess for Tortall. We don't need Saren as much as we need you to be able to keep a level head on your shoulders. Besides, if her brother is successful, we will still get a nice treaty out of this, which now looks like the only way we'll get one. Talks have been going poorly all around."

"Aren't there other princesses you wish for me to marry?"

Jon shrugged. "Honestly, we are already in a good situation. We have the Yamanis, the Carthakis and the Cooper Isles on our side. Admittedly, I would like to make the connection more official with the Cooper Isles, but since the flirtations between some of the delegates and our courtiers I think may lead to a marriage or two, I think that will be sufficient. I will never marry any of my children to Scanrans. It's pointless with the constant changes in power. Solidifying our relationship with Tusaine would be good, but the best option is actually a princess who is quite young and more suited to marry Jasson in a few years. Olivia is a chance, but if we weight the dice in Jasper's favor she may be our best bet at a new ally. True we could get some benefit from a Gallan princess or some of the others, but Saren is what we really need. I'm increasingly willing to take the chance that we could get something out of this marriage since it would be a bonus on top of Princess Olivia's other good qualities. The only question left is, will she marry you?"

"I have no idea. Honestly, my guess would be no."

"Tell her we will silently support her brother if she agrees to this. I'm guessing her sense of duty is getting to her as well."

Liam nodded. "That's part of it, but I still don't know that she'll say yes. I'm not sure this is the life she wants."

Jon smiled in amusement. "Just recognizing that is a good first step," he said wryly.

Liam looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Jon shook his head. "It's nothing. You know, the only way you'll know is if you ask."

Liam smiled. "I suppose you're right."

"Let me know what happens."

Liam nodded again and stood up, he was about to leave when he stopped and turned. "Thank you."

Jon waved him away. "Good luck. Don't be arrogant and be honest. That's the only advice I have for you."

Liam grinned and left the room, whistling. Despite the knot in his stomach reminding him that she might say no, he still felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from him. He and Olivia could marry if they wished. It would be good for their countries. He'd take her to a nice private, eating-house and then propose tonight. Waiting would just make this worse. He knew he wouldn't be able to hide how he felt after that. He made his way to the stables, saddled his horse and rode to the markets, determined to find the perfect ring. He went through jeweler after jeweler. Simple rings with just a solitary diamond, ornate rings with several stones, gold, silver, emeralds, amethests, rubies, none of them seemed right. He was about to give up when he saw a small table away from the jewelers section of the market and near the basket weavers. The small, older woman behind it looked to have K'miri ancestry, and her baskets were clearly in the K'miri style. He walked over to her table and smiled.

"Do you have any jewelry?" he asked.

The woman looked at him in surprise. "I saw you searching through the jewelry over there. If you can afford those jems, I doubt you'll want what I have to offer."

"I want a ring for a K'miri woman. I don't think those jewels would appeal."

The woman cocked her head and him, but nodded. She reached under the table and pulled out a box, rummaged through it for a moment, then pulled out a simple silver ring.

"This is what you want I'd wager," she said, placing into his hand. "Pure silver. Made by a K'miri jeweler in Saren."

Liam considered the cloddagh ring, wondering if giving it to Olivia would be a dangerous reminder of her mother.

"Trust me, lad. If she's a true K'mir, that's what she'll want."

Liam nodded and handed her a few coins, far more than the ring was worth. "Thank you," he said. "I hope you're right."

"Good luck, lad. And remember, you usually have to ask a K'miri woman more than once."

Liam laughed and thanked the woman again before returning the castle. It was almost sundown by the time he got back to his room. He picked up a book and began reading it, but couldn't focus on the words. Putting it down, he paced his room, then sat back down and picked up a different book. After a bell's worth of failing to distract himself, he heard at knock at his door. At last, she was there. The waiting was over. "Come in," he called.

Olivia walked in and closed the door, her face alarmingly pale and her agitation clear. "What's wrong?" he asked, standing up and walking towards her. She stepped away when he reached out for her, staring down at her hands.

She breathed in deeply and looked up at him. "I'm pregnant."

---

Really, you didn't see that coming? I told you people soap opera, and this is just the beginning. Check out their first time. What was missing, hm? Review!


	23. Chapter 23

Liam stared at her. "What? How? What?"

Olivia still didn't look at him. "The first time outside the ball. I wasn't wearing a pregnancy charm. I put it on right afterwards. Usually that prevents this from happening, but its not as good as wearing it at the time. I guess it wasn't good enough. I can't believe this happened."

Liam wrapped his arms around her. "It's going to be alright."

Olivia relaxed against him. "You're right. I shouldn't get upset."

"There's no reason to, but it's understandable."

"It'll be taken care of."

"Of course it will, we'll take care of it."

"You'll come with me?"

"Come with you where?"

Olivia looked up at him. "I asked around and found a woman I can go to to buy a potion that will—What were you talking about?"

"I—You want to get rid of it?"

Olivia pulled away from him. "What else would we do?" she asked, her voice rising slightly.

"Get married," Liam blurted out.

"That's your answer!" Olivia shouted. "Get married. Of course, yes we'll just get married. Horse lords. What are you thinking? We can't get married. Are you out of your mind?"

"Oh, your solution is better?" Liam hissed.

"Do you think I want to do this? I'm being realistic. We can't get married. And we shouldn't get married just because of an accident. That's no reason to get married. This is no time for either of us to bring a babe into this world."

"So you aren't even going to think about it? Do I get any say in this?" Liam yelled.

"It's my body. I decide. We can't have this child, Liam." Olivia shouted, stomping across the room.

"We can if you'll stop being stubborn and just marry me. I mean why wouldn't you want to?" Liam hollered back.

"Just marry you? Just marry you? Oh, of course. Every woman in the world would love to marry the wonderful, handsome, charming Prince. How could I possibly want to turn you down?"

Liam's eyes narrowed, anger drumming through his veins. "Not you though. Of all the women in the world I had to pick you. Too stubborn to let anyone help you or let anyone love you. You don't care about anyone but yourself. All you're thinking about is what is easiest for you."

Olivia grabbed the water pitcher next to her and chucked it at Liam's head. He ducked and shattered on the wall behind him. Olivia practically ran out of the room, slamming it behind her and blushing as she walked down the hall past Jon and Alanna.

Jon sighed and looked at Alanna. "Well, I can guess what just happened."

Alanna smiled wryly. "I'll go talk to her. Are you going to talk to him?"

Jon looked at the door. "I'll let him cool off a bit first. Then, I'll go talk to him."

Alanna followed Olivia as she stormed through the castle, catching up with her when she reached the practice courts.

"Olivia, are you alright?" she called as the girl picked up a bow.

Olivia sighed and turned around. "I'm fine," she said softly.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly. There's not really much to talk about."

"Do you love him?" Alanna asked gently.

Olivia chuckled, but it wasn't a happy sound. "As if that matters. I live in this world, not a romantic bard's tale. There is no happily ever after here. I know what I have to do."

Alanna cocked her head slightly, trying to decipher her cousin's words. "If marriage is what you want, you can be married. Jon and Thayet both support it at this point."

Olivia looked at Alanna and shook her head. "It's not that simple. Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Olivia picked up her bow and began firing at the target.

Alanna sighed. "Alright, but I'm always here if you do want to talk and you have more options then you think you do."

She watched the girl shoot for awhile, but at last she turned and walked back to the palace, not noticing Olivia stop shooting and head towards the city.

When Jon knocked on Liam's door, he'd refused to answer, hiding in the secret passageway to avoid discussing what happened. After his father had left, Liam went back to his room, pacing as the rage dissipated and logic returned. It was her right to do what she wanted, but he should have explained better. Should have told her he loved her. Should have told her everything. Then let her decide. Instead, he'd pushed her away. Probably forever. It wasn't until well past midnight that he heard Olivia return to her room. He debated for a few minutes fingering the cloddagh ring. He thought about the K'miri woman's words and smiled slightly before walking quickly into Olivia's room.

She was sitting on her bed staring at a glass liquid-filled vile when he walked in. She didn't even acknowledge his presence, so he sat down next to her and put an arm around her, pulling her against his chest.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you," he whispered into her hair, placing the ring in her hand. "I love you in the forever kind of way. I was planning to ask you to marry me tonight before you told me you were pregnant. I even bought a ring. This is your choice, and I will support you and be there for you in whatever you choose. But I love you and I want to marry you, no matter what. No matter what you choose, that will not change."

Olivia stared at the ring for a long while, turning it over and over. At last she sighed and looked up at him. "I know what to do. The logical thing to do. Doesn't mean it's not hard. Doesn't mean it won't hurt. As for marriage and love, neither of us ever wanted that. Love drags you down, makes you hurt, makes you lose a part of yourself. I can't do it. I just can't. I'm too scared to take the chance. I know what I have to do, but I just can't seem to walk across the room, pick up that vile and drink it. I can't bring a babe into this world right now. Even if I decide that I'm ready for this, for you and me. I have a war between me and that future. Having this babe would be irresponsible."

Liam leaned down and kissed her delicately on the lips, settling his hand on her stomach. "How long do you have to decide?"

"I'm about four weeks along. The potion works for eight."

"So you have time. Think about it. Decide what you want. We can always get married secretly and then claim to have gotten married even earlier than we actually did if you're worried about court gossips. I wouldn't stop you from going back to Saren after you had it. It could stay in the nursery here while you fight your war. And you'd have silent Tortallan support as well. Money, weapons, and probably even some of our warriors."

Olivia nodded slowly. "I could take it to live with my tribe too," she said quietly. "Plenty of our warriors have children. We have camps we keep well-hidden and safe. The older members care for the children. K'miri's don't care about being married before having children. I want to live with them anyways. That's what I always wanted. And I did want children, I suppose. I just always thought about children meaning marriage, and I knew I didn't want marriage."

Liam's chest tightened at her words. "You don't have to decide now. It's been a long day. Sleep now. And for the record. I do want this. I want you and me and marriage and love and children, either now or later. It's your choice."

Olivia rubbed her face with her hand. "Thank you. Everything is just whirling round and round in my brain. I don't know what to do."

Liam nodded and took the ring away from her, placing it on the bedside table. He slid his hand under her tunic, tugging it off and kissing her on the neck. He slipped off her breeches and pushed her back to lie against the bed.

"Just let go for now, love," he whispered in her ear, sliding his hands over her body. "Just let go."

---

Now before you get mad at me, I could have left it a cliffie with them fighting, so it could be worse. Review!


	24. Chapter 24

Liam woke up to Olivia gently touching his face. She was tracing over his nose, than across he cheekbone and down his jaw. He opened his eyes, and he saw the shifting series of emotions that had momentarily dissipated from her face the night before was back, and he wished fleetingly that he had the power to wipe them away permanently.

Instead, he just said, "Hey you."

Olivia smiled at the familiar greeting, and he smiled back, wondering if those words had somehow eased her turmoil. Hoping that it was so. "Hey you."

"What time is it?"

Olivia glanced toward the window. "Looks like the sun is up. I only woke up a few moments ago."

"How are you feeling?"

"Confused, overwhelmed, conflicted."

Liam nodded and put his arms around her. "That sounds about right."

She buried her face in his chest. "Why does this have to be so hard?"

Liam shrugged. "Is there anyone you can talk to who isn't me? That might help. Alanna or Jasper, maybe?"

Olivia sighed. "I'd kill to have my Auntie Mae here."

"Who's Auntie Mae?" Liam asked.

"Max's sister. She is the proprietress an inn of, well, poor repute. She has a good head on her shoulder's about this type of thing."

Liam laughed. "Maybe you should talk to Rispah. She'll be at the Swoop when we go in three days."

"Who's Rispah?"

"George's cousin. She was the Queen of the Rogue when he was King."

"I see. Perhaps she could be a stand in for Auntie Mae. I'm looking forward to going to the Swoop. It will be nice to be back with all the people we like and get to know Aly a little better. Plus, I always felt like I could think more out in the ocean. Maybe I'll be able to figure out what I want there."

The bells began ringing, and instinctively they both counted. When they finished, Olivia cursed and hopped out of bed. "I can't believe we slept till the midday bell. People are going to be asking questions."

As she slid on a loincloth and breastband, Liam grabbed his breeches and pulled them on. While she combed her hair, Liam put his hands on her hips and kissed her neck.

"People will think we went to the city or something. It'll be fine."

Olivia turned around and looked at him with a bemused expression on her face. At last, she leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth. "You always think everything will be fine, don't you?"

Liam picked her up and placed her on her vanity table, pulling her legs around him. "Trust me. It can be fine, if you'll just trust me."

He kissed her again, wrapping his hands in her hair. Briefly, he wondered at the physical nature of their relationship. He felt there was so much more to them, but did she not understand that? Every time he touched her he felt he expressed that they belonged together, that they worked, but perhaps she felt differently. Perhaps she thought this was just sex. Her hands moving across his back brought him back out of his mind, and he found he was moving his hands to undo her breastband. Then, without warning the door few open, and suddenly he knew it would not be fine.

"You whore," screamed Queen Lori.

Instinctively, Liam took a step away from Olivia. Lori marched over and grabbed Olivia by the hair, dragging the girl out into the hall before she could even react. Olivia stumbled to her feet in the hall, only to reel slightly as Lori slapped her across the face. "You jumped-up K'miri slut. How dare you."

Liam followed them into the hall, unsure of what to do. He grimaced when he saw three other members of the Saren delegation, Princess Kendra, both his parents, Alanna, Buri and George in the hallway all looking as conflicted as Liam.

Lori continued spewing curses at Olivia and slapped her again. "Spread your legs for any man don't you. Jut like your whore of a mother."

Before Liam could intervene, Olivia's eyes narrowed, and she straightened up. "What did you say?" she hissed.

"You are just like your whore of a mother," Lori hissed back.

Olivia slammed her fist into Lori's jaw. "Keep your mouth off my Ma," she shouted, hitting her again. Lori fell back on the floor, and Olivia straddled her, hitting her again and again. "You have no right to talk to about her. You and the King destroyed us. Destroyed the family. How dare you say a word against her."

Everyone just stood and watched, stunned into inaction. Olivia's face was twisted into all the rage and pain that even Liam had only glimpsed. Suddenly it was raw and overpowering, and everyone stood motionless as they witnessed its power. At last, George shook out of the reverie, moving forward quickly while everyone else stayed entranced, and grabbing Olivia by the waist. He hauled her off of Lori and wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair while she cried, her violence instantly turning to tears as he comforted her as if she was his own daughter.

Princess Kendra helped her mother stand up, and held and hankerchief to her bloody nose.

"You are disowned," Lori said, her voice steely. "Don't you ever, ever consider yourself a Princess of Saren again. You are forbidden from entering the castle. You are officially on your own. Get out now. Leave this palace, you whore."

"That's enough," Jon said sharply. "You have no right to throw people out of my castle, your majesty. I suggest you go see the healers now, and we will take care of things as we see fit."

"If she isn't out of here by sundown, these negotiations are officially over."

Lori swept away, the majesty of her movements spoiled by her rapidly swelling face and the bloody cloth at her nose. She was followed quickly by the rest of the members of the delegation. Liam went back his room and grabbed Olivia's robe. When he returned, Olivia was beginning to pull away slightly from George. She took the robe from him and put it on.

"You should have let me kill her," she said, looking at George.

George smiled slightly. "If you want to kill the woman, at least have the decency to sneak into her room and leave no sign of who did it, so we don't have to deal with it."

Olivia grinned. "Fair enough." She turned and looked at Jon. "I'm sorry for the mess I've caused. I'll pack up my stuff and be out of here soon."

"Where will you go?"

"I have a friend in Corus I can stay with, and I have enough jewels that I can sell to buy a horse and make the journey home."

Liam reached a hand out as if he could hold her to him, but Alanna spoke first.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "You're coming to the Swoop."

Olivia's eyes widened. "I can't. That would make so much trouble for all of you. I don't want to be a burden, and it will make a lot of trouble with Saren."

"I don't care. You're kin," Alanna said stoutly. "You'll do nothing else."

Olivia looked at Jon questioningly, and Jon sighed. "She wouldn't speak to me if I said otherwise," he said, glancing briefly at Liam. "Besides, we all know now these negotiations were never really going to go anywhere. George, why don't you go with her now? The rest of us will join you in three days as planned, and I'll try to calm the waters as much as I can in the meantime."

"Thank you," Olivia said quietly. "I'll go pack."

The group left the hall slowly, leaving Liam and Olivia standing alone. Olivia fiddled with her robe and stared at the wall behind him as if the armor that decorated it could tell her the answer to her problems.

"We can't marry," she said stoutly. "You know it, and so do I."

"I know no such thing," Liam responded rebelliously.

Olivia waved him off. "Act like the commander you are, Liam. We have to make hard decisions sometimes, sacrifice for the overall good. We can't marry. It would destroy my chances in Saren, and my father would make trade between our countries worse out of pure spite. He'd crack down on the K'mir, which would make our efforts impossible. You need to figure out a way to make this up with Kendra. It's the rational thing. The only thing I have to decide is if I am capable of giving a babe the life it deserves and still fulfilling my duty and my dreams. That's what I have to decide. If you want to help me, go back to your room, Liam. Think about how to make Kendra believe you still will marry her. I'm going to go pack."

Olivia swept into her room and closed the door behind her, looking far more a queen then Lori ever did. It was too bad that Saren would never accept a female ruler, Liam thought. Jasper would be adequate, but she would have been glorious. She was ruthless. She was smart. She was cold, hard logic. He'd been that way once, but he'd met his match. He'd met his lioness, and she'd changed him forever. Now, he had to let her go. He went back to his room and changed clothes quickly, stopping a servant and telling him to bring a bouquet of roses. In his mind, he readied a story to sell Kendra, a story of seduction and guilt and deep regret. He did it all for her. The princess on the other side of the wall had given him and order, and what could he do but obey.

-----

Review!


	25. Chapter 25

"You and Kendra seem to be getting along well," Jon commented along the ride to the Swoop.

Liam grimaced. "I'm doing my best. She's still a little prickly, but I'm winning her over again. I promised I'd write the three weeks we were gone."

"They actually seem almost ready to resume negotiations. They were threatening to crack down on K'miri rights again, but I think they were bluffing. Now that they think Olivia's gone for good, they've agreed to reevaluate while we are gone, and then we can hopefully begin talks again when we get back. I'm hoping we can give Olivia the time she needs."

"Good," Liam said.

"What does Olivia want?"

Liam shrugged. "I don't think she even knows. It's complicated."

"Any marriage will have to be after they do whatever it is they're doing, won't it?"

Liam nodded.

"I can give you the time, if you wish. I'm putting this in your hands. You can decide."

"Thank you."

Liam spent the rest of the ride contemplating the best course of action. What he wanted was to marry before the baby was born and then the baby be allowed to stay in Corus while she went off to her rebellion. However, if the child were born the scandal would make it difficult for them to marry afterwards. He wanted that child. If anything were to happen to her, he wanted that reminder of who she was and what they'd had. But was it pure selfishness making him think that way? She could be gone for years, and he would constantly be away. The child would grow up barely knowing his parents. He knew how it felt to have parents whose duties often meant they were absent, but this would be magnified greatly for this child. What kind of life could he give him or her? Liam shook his head. It didn't matter. She would decide and all he would do was make sure that she knew he loved and supported for her. That was the best thing he could do.

He could hardly keep from squirming on his horse like a small boy as the towers of the Swoop came into view. They'd only been separated for six days, but he still strained his eyes to see if he could see her on the wall, his heart speeding up as he looked for her. At last, they entered the gates, and Liam looked around, but didn't see Olivia anywhere.

After greeting his wife, George turned to Liam and whispered, "She's in the same room she was in earlier. I think she'll want to see you, but if she's sleeping, let her. She's gotten very little sleep the past few days."

Liam nodded and gave his reins to a servant, discreetly making his way into the castle as everyone else greeted each other. He took the stairs two at a time and carefully opened the door to Olivia's room without knocking. The room was dark, the heavy curtains drawn tight across the windows to keep any light from coming in. He walked across the room to the bed and sat down on it, watching Olivia sleep. Her sleep was fitful. She mumbled and tossed and turned, frown lines furrowed deep in her face. He stroked her cheek, and she seemed to quiet slightly, but she continued to mutter. Liam eased his clothes off silently and slid into bed, pressing himself against her back and wrapping his arms around her. She turned in his hold and pressed her forehead against his neck.

"I love you," she whispered. "I don't think I've actually told you that, but I do love you."

"Thank you. Now sleep, love. Sleep," Liam whispered, kissing the top of her head. She relaxed in his arms and her breath quickly took the even, heavy rhythm of a deep, peaceful sleep. When it neared time for supper, Liam kissed Olivia gently on the lips. She smiled as she awoke, stretching slowly.

"It's time for dinner," Liam said.

"I just want to sleep," Olivia said. "My stomach is queasy, and I'm so tired."

"You need some food."

Rather than respond, Olivia buried her face in his chest and tugged the covers over her head. Liam chuckled slightly, stroking her back.

"Alright, alright," he whispered, letting her return to her peaceful sleep.

A little while later, a knock sounded at the door. Liam untangled himself from Olivia, who groggily stirred as the noise pulled her out of a deep slumber. A maid was on the other side, holding a plate of food, a baked apple and a note. Liam took the tray opened the note.

_One of the only things Alanna would early on in both her pregnancies was baked apples. Maybe Olivia will eat them to. The rest of the food is for you._

_George_

"George knows?" Liam exclaimed, turning to look at Olivia.

Olivia opened her eyes again. "He guessed, but I refused to confirm."

"What did he say?"

"He said if I decided to keep it and needed someplace to have it quietly, he could arrange that, or I could stay here."

Liam nodded, at once relieved that an adult knew and vaguely ashamed that he still felt the need for the help of an "adult."

"He says Alanna would eat baked apples during the second month she was pregnant. Want to try some?"

"Baked apples!" Olivia exclaimed. "I love baked apples."

"George is officially a genius. That's much more energy then you've shown lately."

Liam settled down next to her on the bed, the tray in his lap. Olivia leaned against his chest, forcing him to put his arm around her and eat one handed.

"How were the last few days?"

"Awful. I spent a ton of time with Kendra convincing her you were a nasty seductress and I wanted naught to do with you, and the rest of the time unsuccessfully trying to get the House of Lords to train soldiers. I even came up with a plan where we'd only have them train them in four day bocks once a month and ask them to practice on their own other times. We'd have training camps all over Tortall that they could come to, and then work the land and such other times, so we would not have to pull them full wages."

"They refused to pay for it?" Olivia asked, swallowing a big bite of apple.

Liam nodded, his jaw tight. "They're going to get slaughtered if we go to war unexpectedly. They won't even train some of their own people because they fear rebellion."

Olivia kissed him on the cheek. "Some of them will surely?"

Liam sighed. "Yes, some, but not enough."

"There's only so much you can do, Liam. Only so much you can do." She stroked him along the jaw, rubbing the scruff of his two-day beard.

Liam turned and caught her lips with his own. She smiled and leaned in for more, putting the apple aside and pulling him to her.

"I thought you were tired," he whispered.

"I am, but not so tired that I can't let you pleasure me."

Liam grinned and put the food aside, moving on top of her. "I'm happy to oblige," he said. "But when we are done you're finishing that apple and eating at least one more."

"Yes, your highness." Her voice was husky as she pulled him closer, closing her eyes as Liam stroked his fingers along her inner-thigh.

-----

Sorry it took so long to update and that it wasn't a terribly eventful chapter after all this wait. The next one will be, but it may take me awhile. Life got really complicated out of no where. It will hopefully calm down again in the next few weeks, but in the meantime I'll probably be updating a lot slower than normal. Sorry. I like updating quickly, and I know you all prefer that to.


	26. Chapter 26

"Why is everyone so excited about this picnic today?" Olivia asked, sitting on a stool and brushing her hair out slowly.

"It's something we all used to do when we were kids. We'd get together at the end of father's progress here, and it would be the whole family. Alanna, George, Thom, the twins, Father, Mother, all my siblings, Raoul, Buri, Gary and his father, Cythera, Myles, Eleni and then the others that we've collected over the years—Numair, Onua, Daine. Everyone. We'd always get together for at least one day at the beach and have a huge picnic. I looked forward all year to that day. All of us children did. More than birthdays or Midwinter. It was the one day of the year we could count on the whole family being together. As we all grew up and especially after the immortals came, the picnics got more and more infrequent and people were always missing. We haven't had one at all since Aly left, and this is the closest we've gotten to having everyone in many years since Kally's the only one missing," Liam replied, watching her finish brushing her hair and rub lotion on her cheeks. Next, she would rim her eyes with kohl. Watching her morning routine was something he looked forward to everyday, the intimacy and regularity of knowing each one of her motions was soothing.

"It must have been hard for you, not having your parents around," Olivia said, pausing in her actions and casting her eyes toward a drawer that Liam knew held the glass vile that she still was considering taking.

He paused, choosing his words carefully. "Sometimes it was hard, but I always understood. I knew they loved me and wanted to be with me more than they were, and I was proud of what they did. I wanted the same life they had, so I couldn't resent them. Besides, we collect people in this large extended family of ours. Someone was always around." Liam looked at her speculatively. "You're part of that you know," he added. "You and Jasper are members of the extended family. No matter what, you both always have a place here."

Olivia smiled and nodded, finishing up the kohl. Rather than put on her jewelry like she normally did, she sprinted to the necessary and threw up the contents of her stomach. Liam winced and moved to pull her hair back, rubbing her back gently. When she was done heaving, she leaned against him as she rinsed her mouth out.

"Are you alright?" Liam asked gently, cradling her against him.

Olivia laughed. "Of course I am. I'm pregnant, Liam. This is normal. Now that I'm sleeping, I feel fine, especially after I throw up in the morning."

Liam kissed her on the neck, restraining from asking her what she was going to do. They'd been at the Swoop two weeks, leaving her about another week to decide. She'd rarely mentioned her thoughts on the subject, but he'd caught her looking down with her hand on her stomach, her face serene. He couldn't help but take her reluctance to decide as a good sign, but he was determined not to pressure her on the subject no matter how much he wanted to. He tried to stop himself from imagining their child, and the life they could have together, but he couldn't help it. He even found himself considering logistics, like the type of woman they'd hire to be a nanny, and ways that Olivia could travel with him sometimes on missions. She was still training, even with the pregnancy, and Liam knew she'd be able to hold her own in a fight. Perhaps she could accompany him sometimes. While she was away, he'd only fight when absolutely necessary. His son or daughter didn't deserve to be often alone so early in life, before he or she could understand the reasons for his and Olivia's absence. He generally shook himself every time he thought like that, knowing full well that these imaginations would only make it harder if Olivia decided to take the potion or take the child to Saren.

"Come on, we'll be late for the grand picnic." Olivia kissed him sweetly before slipping out of his hold and putting on the cloddagh necklace. She pinned her hair back quickly and opened the door. Liam followed her through, and they made their way down to the main hall. They were the last to arrive. Liam picked up a set of blankets, and Olivia held a bowl of food as the whole party made their way down to the beach.

When they arrived, they opened up the blankets and sat down on them, spreading out the food for later. They chatted and gossiped, telling teasing stories about each other as Olivia leaned back in Liam's hold. Liam smiled. Despite the obviousness of their sleeping arrangements, Olivia rarely displayed affection before the rest of the group. She was demanding to hear an embarrassing story about Liam when a distinctive bird-like whistle split through the air. Olivia and Jasper were already up and running up the winding path to the top of the cliffs by the time the rest of the group had unsheathed their weapons. A tall man and woman and a shorter woman stood at the top of the cliffs, three horses behind them. The group watched as the twins scrambled to the top. Olivia got there first, throwing herself at the man who pulled her into a tight hug. Jasper laughed when he got to the top, the unusual sound echoing down to the beach below as he hugged each of the women. Olivia broke away after a moment to hug the other two, then returned to the man's hold, leaning against him as he draped one arm over her shoulders.

Buri was looking at them closely. "Thayet, is that Max and Mae?"

Thayet squinted, taking in the taller figures' dark black curls, the man's streaked with grey, and the tiny waist of the tall woman that emphasized her curving hips and breasts. "I think it is. What in the name of the Gods would they be doing here?"

"Who are Max and Mae?" Jon asked.

Thayet and Buri both giggled like adolescent court ladies, causing everyone to stare at them. "Max is a horse trainer. He's got wild magic. He also helped lead the commoners when they tried to stop the current king from taking my father's throne, though my understanding is that the current king never knew that, which is why Max is still a horse breeder at the castle. My father wasn't good, but everyone knew the new king would be worse for commoners and K'mir. Max was key in making sure the K'miri and the commoners actually worked together. Rumor had it right before we left Saren that he married a K'miri, but he was quite the ladies' man before that."

"They always use to say there was no room one could keep Maximus Zariah out of," Buri said with another giggle. "Not that any girl would try. Everyone had a crush on him. Thayet used to drag me down to the stables all the time to ogle him."

Raoul raised his eyebrow at his wife's unusual display of what could only be termed silliness.

"I hardly had to drag you. You were as aware of how good-looking he was as I was, plus he was so naughty. Mae is his sister," Thayet said. "She's not the kind of women you want to cross. But if you're her friend, she's loyal to the grave and a lot of fun along the way. I wonder how Olivia and Jasper know them."

Liam examined Olivia and Max, only half listening to the conversation. "So, I finally get to meet Appa," Liam said to himself.

"What did you say?" Thayet demanded.

"I said I get to meet Appa. Olivia talks about him a lot."

"She calls him Appa?" Buri asked, looking alarmed.

"Yes. Why? Doesn't it just mean uncle."

"No, it doesn't," Thayet said. "It means father, only very affectionate. Generally only daughters use it when they are very young or very close to their fathers. Aly would probably call George Appa if they were K'mir."

As they all stared up at the five people, each person noticed the matching profiles and height of the four taller members of the group and the similarities between the figures of Olivia and Mae. While they looked, the shorter woman finally turned toward them, observing them all sharply, before her stare settled on Liam, making him squirm a little from the harshness of her violet-eyed gaze.

-----

So, I actually managed to write two chapters yesterday in the time I had to write. I was going to hold onto this one because I was worried I wouldn't have time to write for awhile, but I decided you all deserve a little bit of intrigue and not just fluff after all that waiting.


	27. Chapter 27

While Jasper and Olivia talked to Max and Mae, the short violet-eyed woman walked down the path towards the larger group. Her all-black clothes were practical, as was the short cut of her mostly white hair. She had the type of deep grooves around her mouth and eyes that accompanied a long life spent both smiling and frowning. A bow and quiver were slung over her shoulder, and as she approached, Liam recognized the shape of a cloddagh ring on her left ring finger.

When she reached the beach, she walked over to the group. Not bothering with formalities, she turned her gaze on Liam and barked out, "So you're the lad messing about with my granddaughter. You Contés, all alike, always running the women round in circles. True, your grandda was a good sort, loved Lady Lianne and her alone, but that was his way of rebelling against the King as much as his insistence on being the peacemaker. I hear you're like old King Jasson, though, through and through."

Liam scrambled for a reply, but all he could manage to get out when confronted with the formidable force of this woman was: "Excuse me?"

Clarissa laughed a joyless laugh. "New woman every night and always most attracted to the one you can't have. That was King Jasson's way. He went through four wives and thrice as many mistresses, not to mention all the women who lasted but for a night or two. I'll not have my granddaughter mucked around by the likes of you, prince or no."

"I'm not mucking around with her, lady," Liam said.

Clarissa waved him off. "I'm not lady, and I'll naught hear your lies."

"Nana, stop terrorizing Liam, and say hello to your niece and her family." Olivia appeared behind Clarissa.

Clarissa whirled around and grabbed her granddaughter by the ear. "Don't you tell me what to do, young lady. Your appa might tell you, you can do whatever you want, but you listen to me. Your mischief has officially gotten out of hand. You have made it your life mission to sleep with the most inappropriate men you can do spite the king, and I've never said boo, but this is going to far. You are coming back to Saren with us. We are leaving tomorrow."

"Clarissa," Max's voice rang out. "That is enough."

Clarissa glared up at him, but let go of Olivia, who stood upright and rubbed her ear, blushing furiously.

Liam took a moment to look at Max, who was still looming over Clarissa. He was a tall dark-haired man, though grey veins ran through his hair. The angles of his nose and cheekbones matched the one's that Liam traced over every morning, but his handsome face was marred by a large scar, partially obscured by the eye-patch that covered his left eye.

As Max and Clarissa faced off, Liam took a moment to glance at Mae, who was almost as tall as Max, though she was as curvy as he was straight. Her very low cut dress emphasized her bosom and small waist, and her dark hair curled seductively around her face and fell around her large, dark eyes.

"Baby girl, don't listen to your grandmother. Her sharp tongue has gotten even sharper in her old age. We just missed you and your brother and came to say hello. That's all," Max said firmly, slinging his arm around Jasper's soldier.

"Thanks, appa," Olivia said quietly, straightening her shoulders, her face already free of any sign that she had been embarrassed only moments before.

Turning to face Thayet, Max bowed with the flourish of a player. "Your majesty, you look as lovely as ever. It is a pleasure to see you again, and you as well Buri. I hear you got married. It is the talk of the K'mir."

Buri and Thayet both flushed faintly. "You were always a player, Max," Thayet said.

"A man can't fight his nature," Max said with a sly grin.

"As if you ever even gave it a try," Mae said, her laughing voice cutting through any lingering tension.

"I think it is time for you all to meet," Olivia said dryly. "Nana, don't you want to meet your niece? I seem to remember you saying you were pleased you finally had a family member worth something. Wouldn't you like to meet her?"

As the two groups made their introductions, Liam fought his desire to run. Taking a chance when Clarissa seemed sufficiently occupied by Aly's dramatics, he glanced over at Olivia. She caught his gaze and smiled, walking over to stand next to him. She took his hand, squeezing it gently before letting it go.

"Don't let her get to you," she whispered. "She doesn't know what she's talking about. I know you aren't just messing about with me."

"I know. The real question is, are you just messing about with me?" Liam said, looking down at her.

Olivia smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I suppose that is the question."

When Liam looked up, he found himself looking straight into Max's eye. Max was staring at him intently. He pursued his lips slightly as he met Liam's gaze, but he nodded his head slightly before turning to respond to something Buri had said.

"Are you going to go back to Saren with them?" The words tumbled from his lips against his will. He grimaced internally as heard them. He sounded like a little boy terrified of being left alone.

"I haven't decided yet."

"They want you to."

"Nana does, I suppose, but Appa just wants me to be happy. He knows about everything, and he says he'll support anything I decide. He says they won't be ready for a year yet, so I could have it without consequence to our plans."

"That's good," Liam said quietly.

"I should skin you for impregnating my niece."

Liam jumped at the husky voice in his ear. He swung around to look at Mae, who grinned at him wolfishly. "I suppose I'll let you live for now. After all I taught her about pregnancy charms when she was ten. She knew better, and it would be a shame to kill a man as good looking as you."

"Is Max next? Am I going to be threatened by each member of your family?" Liam asked, addressing Olivia but keeping an eye on Mae.

Mae laughed. "I speak for us both. Don't hurt the girl. You'll regret it. Mark my words. Prince or no. You'll regret it."

"Auuuuntie," Olivia said, moving in front of him. "Leave him alone. He's a good man."

Mae cocked her head slightly and smiled. "Lass, are you protecting the boy? So love really is in the air."

"Go eat some food Auntie and leave us alone."

At George's insistence, Max, Mae and Clarissa sat with the rest of the group and began eating. Any lingering tension quickly faded as the two groups began trading stories, Olivia quickly falling pray to Max's affectionate teasing as he told stories about her similar to the one's that Thayet had been telling about Liam only moments before. Olivia resumed her position against Liam's chest, laughing in pleasure as Max finished a tale about the twins playing tricks on each other that ended in mayhem and disaster.

Liam smiled as he watched Olivia's face. He'd never seen her so happy as she was at that moment. He'd gotten glimpses of what she would be like free from anything weighing her down during the times they were alone together, but he was still unprepared for the change that came over her when she was with her family. She glowed with happiness as she clutched her side, gasping desperately for air as she laughed heartily. When she regained control, she leaned back against him, her hand settling down over his stomach. She turned her head into the crook of his neck.

"I'm going to keep it," Olivia whispered, so quietly Liam wasn't sure if he'd just imagined the words.

"What?" Liam said, moving his head down closer to hers.

She looked up at him. "I'm keeping it. Any child would be lucky to be part of this family, no matter what the circumstances. This motley crew of commoners and nobles will ensure this child is loved, no matter what."

Liam smiled and kissed her gently. "You're right. And any child will be lucky to have you as mother."

"And you as I father," Olivia replied, touching his cheek.

Liam covered her hand with his, cradling her stomach. "Our baby," he breathed. "Ours."

-----

I know. I know. I'm an awful person. I'm really, really going to try and update faster. Once May occurs I should be back to almost my normal speed, and by the end of May I'll be back to super fast. Promise. As a side note the story will pick up quite a bit in a few chapters. I'm at the slow plot development phase, but anyone who knows my stories knows they always pick up quickly.


	28. Chapter 28

"There you are," Olivia said, startling Liam out of his reverie on the Swoop's wall. "I can't believe you left me alone in the bed."

Liam smiled and wrapped his arms around her, automatically placing hand protectively over her stomach. "I couldn't sleep and I didn't want my tossing and turning to keep you up. It's been a long day for you."

"I wasn't the one who suffered the wrath of Nana Clarissa. I'm so sorry about that."

"That's what family is for, love. Don't worry. I understand. Did I wake you when I left?"

"No, I just woke up and you were gone. I tried here first since this is where you were last time you couldn't sleep."

"I was just thinking about last time we stood here," Liam replied, looking up at the North Star. "That was the night I realized I loved you."

"All that time ago? You're a bit quicker than I am, I think. I managed to deny it for a very long time."

Liam laughed and kissed the side of her head. "Will you marry me? Please?" he whispered, opening up his hand to show her the cloddagh ring.

Olivia turned and kissed him. "Maybe, someday."

"It'll get harder after the baby is born."

"I know. I just," Olivia paused. "I have plans about how my life is supposed to go. Marriage to a foreign royal was not part of my plan. I can reconcile the baby with what I want for my life. You're a little harder. I'm still working out what is more important to me, you or my goals for the future. I need time, Liam. Time to figure this all out on my own."

Liam smiled and placed his chin on top of her head. "Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

Olivia nodded and they stood in silence for awhile, looking up at the North Star. Finally, Olivia broke the silence. "George mentioned a cottage I could stay at once I really start to show that is about a bell's ride south down the coast. I was thinking of going to visit it tomorrow afternoon. Would you like to come with me?"

"Yes, but for now, let's go to bed. You and our baby need some rest."

Olivia yawned and then grinned. "I guess you're right."

Liam took her hand and walked with her back to their room, never noticing the pair of grey eyes in the pale face that ducked back into a hidden alcove along the wall as he and Olivia passed.

When he got back to the room, he closed the door and leaned against it, watching Olivia undress.

Seeing him look at her, Olivia cocked her head. "What?" she asked.

"I hear that the King of Saren is quite short."

Olivia looked at him. "Yes, he comes to just above my shoulder."

"Your mother was short too I imagine, since Clarissa is and K'miri normally are."

"Yes, she was about Alanna's height."

"You know you have horse magic, right?"

"I'm horsehearted, yes."

"Max is horsehearted."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Max is your father, isn't he?"

Olivia smiled. "In everyway that matters he is, so I never bothered to ask about the way that didn't."

Liam nodded. "Fair enough."

"Can we go to bed now?" Olivia asked.

Liam smiled back at her and pushed himself off the door. "If you insist."

Olivia walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him briefly on the lips. "I do insist."

"As you wish," he said and swept her off her feet abruptly. He walked over towards the bed and tossed Olivia onto it roughly, sending Olivia into fits of laughter.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to chuck pregnant women?" she asked, trying in vain to scowl.

Liam grinned and bounced onto the bed. He leaned over and kissed her. "She also told me not to bounce on the bed, but I've never followed that advice."

Several hours later, after the lovers had already fallen into a deep sleep, George was woken by a hammering at his door. He yanked it open to reveal one of his agents, covered in sweat. "The Scanrans are assembling on the border," the man gasped out. "Maggur's son. He escaped all of our notice. I'm sorry, Baron, but he has already pulled six of the houses together again. We aren't ready for them."

---

Very short I know. This story is going to have so many chapters. I'll try to keep them coming up at a decent pace.


	29. Chapter 29

"Ugh," Liam groaned, pulling a pillow over his head to block out the pounding on the door.

"You are so lazy," Olivia whispered, kissing him on the cheek before she rolled out of bed.

She pulled open the door to reveal Jon, who looked impeccable despite the hour.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Scanrans," he replied, grimacing slightly.

Olivia nodded. "I'll wake him up. The library?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm sorry to disturb you."

"It's fine, your majesty. I'm sorry for the news."

Jon nodded curtly before Olivia closed the door. She walked over to the bed and looked down at Liam, who had already fallen back to sleep. She sat down on the bed and reached out a hand to touch his hair.

"Wake up, Liam" she whispered. "Wake up."

"I don't want to."

Olivia smiled and pulled the pillow from his head. "Liam, you need to wake up. Your father wants to meet in the library. It's the Scanrans."

Liam sat straight up. "Scanrans? How bad is it?"

"He didn't say."

Liam nodded, but he didn't look at Olivia and his face stilled. He got out of the bed quickly, and began pulling on clothing.

"Liam?" Olivia called softly.

"We have less men trained for battle then we ever have in my father's lifetime. Those idiot lords convinced they were safe in their castles with Maggur gone and peace treaties with our other neighbors. Soldiers will die in droves due to their penny-pinching folly," Liam said angrily shoving his feet into his boots.

Olivia moved in front of him and put her hands on either side of his face. She looked up at him and saw the fear in his eyes. "There is only so much you can do, ohmi," she said, then kissed him gently.

Liam touched his forehead to hers and smiled slightly before striding quickly out of the room.

He arrived at the same time as Roald and his wife, Princess Shinkokami, both of whom looked more than a little disheveled. The sight of them brought a touch of smile to Liam's face despite the circumstance. Notincing his brother's look, Roald glanced at Shinko and then blushed as he pulled a piece of seaweed out of her hair.

When Roald opened the door, Jon said, "There you are. Finally. Sit down."

Liam, Roald and Shinko quickly took chairs in the library where all the Tortallan group besides Aly had already assembled. A large map of the border between Scanra and Tortall lay out on a table that had been dragged to the center of the room.

"Maggur's son has taken over his father's old throne," Jon said grimly. "He quietly organized his men and began a three pronged attack. He hit Trebond on the west end of the border, Fort Giantkiller towards the middle, and Fief Desemont on the east end of the border. Trebond is still under siege, but Fort Giantkiller and Fief Desemont were overrun. Some of the soldiers from Giantkiller made it to New Haven, where the town was able to turn back Scanran soldiers who went after them. Fief Desemont was completely pillaged, the walls brought down and the fields burned."

"Gods curse it," Liam growled. "Lord Desemont is such a fool. He was insistent that his walls could withstand any attack and that his people would turn on him if armed. How many of his people died because they had not the ability to defend the land they had tended for generations."

"Many," Jon said. "Lord Desemont paid as well. He survived, but one of his daughters has disappeared. Presumably, she was taken hostage by the Scanrans."

Liam clenched his jaw, but held on to his rage.

"Raoul, I want you to take Third Company to New Haven, gather the soldiers there and rebuild Giantkiller. Send Kel with Second Company to Trebond. They need the help. Once she turns the attack around, I want a new fort established here, a little east of Trebond. It's fairly clear Maggur plans to take this war along the full length of the border. We need more forts."

"I think perhaps we should send Third Company with Kel," Raoul interjected.

"She's capable of proving herself to soldiers quickly. I don't think she needs to be with the Company she knows."

"I agree, but there's no need to separate her from men she's comfortable with," Raoul said.

"Men or man?" Liam asked dryly.

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "What do you know?" Alanna demanded.

"I know nothing," Liam replied. "Someone else made an observation to me, which lately seems to have some merit. I will say nothing else."

"Regardless," Jon interrupted, stopping the interrogation. "If that's what you think is best, Raoul, Second Company is with you and Third Company is with the Lady Knight."

"Liam, I want you to take the seventy soldiers, and go to Fief Desemont. You are in charge of rebuilding there. You will also help defend along the eastern end of the border as necessary. You'll have to recruit and train soldiers from the area," Jon said. "There should be former soldiers in the area from the previous war. Many settled down in the area. Hopefully, they will have continued some weapons training."

Liam nodded. "Who will be in command over me? Wyldon?"

Jon shook his head. "I'm sending him to Northwatch. You will be in command. Roald thinks it is time you began taking on your future role, and I agree. You're ready."

Liam nodded again, trying not to guess how many men he would be sending to their deaths as he listened and occasionally commented on the discussion of tactics. With only an hour to go until dawn, they finished the meeting.

"Sleep while you can, all of you," Jon said, looking at Liam. "Liam, your soldiers are coming from the South. They will be here in two days. You will leave with them on the third. The rest of us will sleep a few hours, and leave for Corus by noon bell tomorrow."

"Aly, do you want to come out and say good-bye to everyone?" George said.

One of the bookcases swung away from the wall, revealing a secret passage and Aly walked in, a playful smile on her face. "You only guessed that I was back there."

"It doesn't count as a guess if I'm right," George replied.

"Be careful, all of you," Aly said quietly, hugging her twin first before she moved on to the rest of the members of their close knit "family."

Liam looked around the room, watching them embrace and say their words of luck and good-bye, worms entering his stomach as he considered the possibility of losing any of them. Roald walked over to Liam and looked at his younger brother. "You are ready for this, Liam," he said quietly.

"I hope you're right," Liam replied.

"Say good-bye to everyone, then go back and spend these last two days with her. Memorize every happy moment. You'll need them in the coming months. I won't pretend what we've asked you to do won't be hard, but you were born to lead soldiers into battle. Remember when HaMinch went down while you were his squire? I thought the whole line was going to freeze from where I was watching on the ramparts, but you got them to move forward and keep fighting. You can do this, but you need her. Don't lose her."

Liam looked at his future King and smiled. "You're smarter than you let on aren't you."

Roald grinned and smacked his baby brother in the back of the head. "Get on with you, brat. Go say good-bye."

----

Review!!


	30. Chapter 30

When Olivia woke up, she reached for Liam, only to find the bed still empty. She sat up and saw Liam sitting at the desk in her room, staring absently at a map and turning a coin over and over in his hand. Quietly, she walked over to him and slid her arms loosely around his neck. She leaned down and kissed him on the temple.

"Bad news?" she asked, running one of her hands lightly through his hair.

Liam nodded. "I've been put in command of a small group of soldiers. I have to rebuild a decimated fief, recruit and train new soldiers and defend part of the border. I will lose so many of men," he said bleakly, staring at the coin.

"What's that coin?" Olivia asked.

"It's the lucky coin of a soldier I knew. He was the first man who ever died under my command. I carry it to remind me of my duty to the men that I bring out into battle. A duty increased now that I'll be recruiting them to die."

Olivia kneeled down before Liam. "Listen to me, ohmi. Those men are there because they want to be. They want to defend their home just as much as you do. Respect their choice by training them as well as you can and saving as many as you can, but don't take away their courage and glory by taking on all the blame for the lives they gave up for their country."

Liam leaned forward and kissed Olivia.

"When do you leave?" Olivia asked.

"Two days. Everyone else is leaving at noon today."

"Did you sleep at all?"

Liam shook his head.

"You should sleep for a bell or two."

"I can't. I just keep going over and over logistics and plans in my head."

"Alright, ohmi," Olivia said, pressing herself closer to him.

Liam turned in the chair and moved his hand over her stomach, tightening the fabric to reveal a slight curve. "That's our baby in there."

Olivia smiled. "Yes, it is."

"What do you think, boy or girl?" Liam asked, his hands still holding her hips.

"I have no idea. What do you think?"

"It's a boy," Liam said decisively.

"Well, then I think it's a girl."

Liam chuckled and kissed her stomach through her nightdress. "Boy or girl, our baby will be wonderful and loved."

"After the rest leave, do you still want to go down to see the cabin? Or are you too tired?"

"No, that's perfect. I want to know where you'll be while I'm gone. You'll write won't you? Even if you go back to Saren?" Liam winced internally, yet again she made him seem like a little boy.

"Of course, ohmi. I tell you all the trouble your daughter gets into."

"Don't you mean son?" Liam teased.

"I think perhaps we should bet on this gender."

"No canoodling for me if we have a girl?"

Olivia laughed. "That wouldn't be any fun for me. How about you have to bring me breakfast in bed if I win?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'd do that anyway."

"Oh dear, how are we supposed to bet on things now?"

Liam smiled and stood, slipping her nightdress up and over her head and running his hand over the slight bump of her stomach. "We bet in the best way possible. With both of us winning no matter what."

He lifted her up and sat her on the desk. Olivia smiled and pulled him closer, wrapping her legs around his waist. "So, what do we both win then?" she asked, kissing his neck.

"Well," Liam said, running his hands over her. "If you win and it's a girl, we'll spend a week in Persopolis, just you and me. If I win and it's a boy, we'll spend a week in Port Legann for a week, just you and me. We'll stay at an inn, and not tell anyone who we are and just do whatever we want."

"Sounds perfect," Olivia purred, leaning back as Liam kissed down her chest.

Liam smiled at the familiar expression of desire on her face and tried to tell himself that just because she was playing along with him didn't mean he should get his hopes up.

"I love you so much," he said.

"I love you too," Olivia replied, kissing him gently.

"Marry me. Please marry me."

"Maybe, ohmi. Maybe. Just enjoy the present for now."

A few bells later, the couple stood on the ramparts with Max, Mae, Clarissa and Jasper, waving good-bye to the Tortallan group.

"You'll see them again, Liam. They know how to take care of themselves," Olivia whispered, holding his hand tight.

Liam let out a breath. "I need to get out of here. Can we go to the cottage?"

"Of course, ohmi. Appa, Liam and I are going to go look at a cottage I may stay at for the next few months."

"So, you're keeping the child," Clarissa said, narrowing her eyes at Liam.

"Yes, I am, Nana and I'll hear naught from you about it. It's my decision," Olivia said, meeting her eyes and staring her down. Max, Mae and Liam all watched in slight awe as the two women glared at each other, until finally Clarissa looked away. Max and Mae both whooped with mirth when Clarissa turned her face away from her granddaughter.

"I told you, Clarissa," Max said, still laughing. "I told you she'd grow up to beat you at your own game."

"We'll be back for dinner," Olivia replied.

"Alright, baby girl," Max replied. "Before you go, I know we'd said we'd stay at least a month, but we are going to have to lean sooner then expected."

"When?" Olivia said quietly.

"A week. Jasper got a letter from his majesty demanding he return to Saren immediately, so that's the longest we can really go, then we'll ride hard for Corus, and Jasper can pretend he didn't get the letter until after all the Tortallans had left and took a slow ride, then we'll ride back to Saren. I'm sorry to leave you like this, but I don't want Jasper back in Saren without me," Max said quietly, so only Liam and Olivia could hear.

Olivia nodded slowly, tears gathering in her eyes. Max folded her easily into a hug. "I'm sorry, baby girl. You can come back with us if you want. That long a ride will be hard on you and a little dangerous, but Clarissa will be there if you need healing. You can come back with us and live with the tribe," he said, rubbing her back.

Liam's heart stopped at the words, and he didn't relax until Olivia pulled back, shaking her head. "No, no you go. You can't leave him alone, and I should stay here. I'll be back tonight, so we can spend a little time here together."

"Take your time, baby girl. If you want to spend the night there that's fine. We'll have a few days together after Liam leaves."

"Alright, Appa. I still think we'll come back tonight though."

"Take Beauty. She's missed you."

"I've missed her too. I'll be sorry to see her go. It'll be wonderful to ride her though. It's been so long."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm going to get a new horse for Mae. We rode her out here so you could have her. It's unnatural the two of you being apart. You raised her since she was a foal."

Olivia's whole face split into a grin. "But his majesty forbade me from ever riding her again."

"You've been disowned, baby girl. You can do whatever you want."

Olivia clapped and spun. "I'd never even thought of that. Never again will I be locked in that castle passing the halls wondering how long it'll be until I can feel the sun on my face."

Max laughed, a deep throaty sound as he stared down at the utter glee on his daughter's face. Liam suddenly realized what Olivia meant. Max had always seemed rather happy to Liam, but watching him truly break into spontaneous laughter proved how much the grief he carried pressed on him at all times. His visible eye danced, and his shoulders seemed to release as his grin lit up his whole face. "Go on with you. You'll need to leave now if you are going to get there with anytime to look around before dark."

-----

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	31. Chapter 31

"We've been riding for awhile," Liam said, interrupting the comfortable silence the two had rode in for most of the journey. "I don't know, Olivia. I think this is too far from the Swoop if you get in trouble."

"We are almost there Liam, and there's a village that's a short walk from the cottage. A rider from the village can get to the Swoop in no time if I need something."

"Olivia, you are going to be out here alone. A short walk is still far if you go into early labor."

"I can message the Swoop magically as well. I'll set it up so I won't even have to use my gift if I'm drained. Will that make you feel better?"

"Only, if we get there soon," Liam replied.

"Look, there's a break in the trees. I think this is it." Olivia pointed at a path towards the cost through the trees. They both turned to the left, following the path until the trees opened up to reveal a small cottage, completely covered in climbing vines on which hung hundreds of bell-shaped orange flowers with deep red streaks. A small stable stood next to the cottage big enough for two horses, with a fenced-in pasture attached to it. What was once a vegetable garden sat in the front of the house, but years of neglect had left it run down with weeds and a lone tomato plant taking up most of the space.

Wordlessly, the two dismounted and tied their horses up before pushing aside the flowering vines to open the door. They walked into a large open room with high ceilings and many windows, all covered by the veins. Olivia walked over and shoved two sets of them open, letting the sunlight pour in and coat the stone floors and sheet covered furniture.

Olivia opened the door to the bedroom, revealing a spacious room with large windows that looked out over the cliffs to the ocean below.

"Well, this is lovely. The windows are incredible. It's odd that a house this small would have such expensive windows," Liam said.

"According to George, one of the former barons of the swoop built this place for his mistress," Olivia replied. "She lived alone, so she didn't need a lot of space, but apparently demanded that no expense be spared. Plus, it's small and out of the way so the wife of the baron wouldn't find out it was being built and get suspicious."

She paused, turning around to grin saucily at him. "Really, it's quite fitting."

"Won't you be lonely?" Liam asked.

Olivia shrugged. "I'll manage. I can read and ride Beauty, and there's the ocean. That garden needs to be seen to."

Liam looked around the room, imagining Olivia puttering around on her own, feeling lonely, perhaps going into labor early and on her own. "Maybe you should go back with Max. I won't be around at all. George will be all over, and Alanna will be gone."

Olivia walked over and wrapped her arms loosely around Liam's waist. "Listen to me, Liam. You don't need to worry about me. I'll be just fine. I'm going to stay here. It will give me time to figure everything out, to figure out what I want my place and our child's place to be if Jasper and I succeed in this mad plan of ours."

"So there is a plan," Liam said teasingly.

Rather than refusing to answer or laughing him off like he expected, Olivia's face stayed solemn. "Oh, yes," she whispered. "There is a plan. We've worked long and hard. We were bred from the cradle for this, and Horse Lords willing we will succeed."

"If we can do anything to help…" Liam trailed off.

Olivia smiled. "Deal with the Scanrans, then we'll talk."

Liam looked around again. "This will need to be cleaned up, and you'll need sheets, and you'll probably want to stay here at least a little while after the baby is born, so you'll need a cradle and baby clothes. Perhaps we should look into getting someone to stay with you and help with the cleaning, and I'll get some money to you to buy—"

"Liam, stop," Olivia said. " You're whirling yourself into a frenzy. I can handle all of this on my own. Max brought me some gold I had left with him in Saren, and I can handle all of the cleaning and things myself. You concentrate on the war in front of you, don't worry about me."

"Just promise me that a month or so before it is time to have the baby, you'll have someone come stay with you, so if the baby comes early, you'll have some help. Promise me."

"Liam, don't be ridiculous. I'm going to be fine," Olivia said.

Liam pulled her against his chest and kissed her forehead, then her nose, then each of her eyelids. "You know," he said, between kisses. "If I know you are here, alone, about to have a baby, I'll be fairly worried about you. So worried, I might be distracted, which is pretty dangerous during war."

Liam grinned as Olivia scowled up at him. "Fine," she sighed. "I'll get a girl from the village to come stay with me in the last few weeks."

"Two months."

"Six weeks."

"Deal." Liam said.

"Deal," Olivia replied sulkily, sticking out her lower lip in a pout.

"You are so cute when you pout. It's the best part of winning." Liam kissed her pout away. "Maybe we should test out the bed. Make sure it is good enough."

Olivia grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck. "That sounds like a good idea. Very logical."

As their kisses got more passionate, she slipped her hands towards his belt buckle.

"Wait, wait," he whispered.

"What?" Olivia said, pulling away.

Liam smoothed her hair back and looked down at her. "Let's take our time," he said quietly. "I want to remember this, every slow, wonderful moment of it. I think I may need the memories."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," she said quietly, reaching a hand up and cupping his cheek. Slowly, she moved forward until she touched his lips gently with her own.

Liam kissed her back, gradually opening their mouths wider and deepening the kiss. Finally, he eased her shirt off and then his own, before backing his way towards to the bed. He fell back against it, pulling her on top of him, still moving slowly to try to remember how she felt, smelt, tasted, sounded and looked during each and every moment.

A long while later he rolled off of her. "Well," he said, breathing heavily. "I think the bed is going to be just fine."

Olivia laughed a deep throaty laugh, making Liam smiled. He rolled over on his side, sliding his hand gently along her stomach. "I just can't believe our baby is in there."

Olivia smiled. "Believe it, ohmi. She's even big enough to make a little hill."

"Yes, he is. A nice little hill, hardly noticeable though."

Liam leaned down and kissed her stomach before leaning back and pulling her onto his chest. "Marry me."

"Someday, ohmi. Someday."

"Well, that's an improvement over maybe someday. We are making slight progress."

Olivia chuckled lightly, her eyes closed. She snuggled into him. "You are making amazing progress, ohmi. You have no idea."

"Good. It'll be worth everything if I win in the end," Liam said, cupping her hip with his hand and making lazy circles on her hipbone. "We should get out of bed if we want to make it to the Swoop before it gets dark."

"Ugh, yes we should. I want to spend some time with my family before they go, and the suns already starting to set," Olivia said, sitting up and reaching for her loincloth.

The two dressed quickly and left the house. Liam glanced back at it, trying to picture Olivia wandering around the cottage, weeding the garden with her pregnant belly in front of her, but couldn't really imagine her in a role so domestic. "Are you sure you will be alright here?" he asked again. "Are you sure you won't just be lonely and bored?"

"I'll be fine. I can do anything, live any way, as long as it is my choice. Trust me, Liam. Are you going to be alright? I don't want you worrying about me. You have plenty to worry about."

"Worrying about you is easier. There's just only so much I can do about what is to come. You I can annoy and badger."

Olivia laughed. "Alright, ohmi. Badger away."

They were almost to the castle when Max appeared along the road with Mae and Clarissa. "Sorry for the surprise you two, but there is a change in plans. Princess Kendra is at the Swoop."

-------

Are you all still even reading this? Or enjoying it? Sorry if it's gotten a little blah. The plot picks up some more after this chapter. I was spinning my wheels a little trying to change the plot, but I just can't come up with anything, so I'm moving forward. Next chapter is a shift from all just lovey dovey blah blah.

So Review!

Oh people asked me about the story Olivia told Liam about the moon and the north star---I just made that up on my own. It doesn't come from anything.

Allie--You wanted to know if I plan to be a writer. I don't. This is just a way for me to get out some of the ideas that roll around in my head, but I don't plan to write for my career.


	32. Chapter 32

Liam swore. "What is she doing here?"

"She says she misses you, your majesty," Max said with a sardonic grin.

"I'll have to go back to the cottage. Did you get my things out?" Olivia asked

Max nodded. "Every last one of them. I was figurin' we'd escort you there and stay the night, then leave for Saren in the morning. No doubt she's here in part to see your brother leaves with all speed. I just hope the Baron's people are smart enough not to tell her that we were there."

"Don't worry about that," Liam said. "George's servants all know it's best not to say anything about what goes on at the Swoop. George knows how to instill loyalty in servants."

"I figured as much. We'll ride ahead baby girl, and let you say your good byes," Max said, nodding to Liam before he guided his horse down the path towards his cottage. Mae and Clarissa followed behind him.

Liam and Olivia watched the three ride away till the path curved in and hid them from view. Liam looked at Olivia, his horse shifting under him uneasily as he tightened his hands on the reins. When Olivia didn't look at him, Liam called her name softly.

She sighed and dismounted, finally looking at Liam as he followed her lead and swung himself off his horse. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her close. He couldn't quite believe that he wouldn't hold her for months, probably even years, if ever. It seemed impossible that she was leaving him, impossible that their time together was coming to a close. Liam wasn't even sure how to let go of her. What did you say at a time like this? He finally let go and stepped away. He leaned down to give her one last kiss goodbye, and found himself pulling her back into a tight hug. They clung to each other once again for long moments, unwilling to let go, until at last Olivia pulled away.

She kissed him softly on the lips, careful to keep a gap between. "Goodbye, ohmi. Be safe. I love you."

"I love you, too." Liam reached out to touch her cheek, but dropped his hand before it got there at the look on her face. She was always the logical one. She knew she had to leave, and she was warning him that their time was up.

Olivia mounted Beauty, settling herself into the saddle in a businesslike fashion.

"Goodbye," Liam said. "Take care of yourself and our child."

Olivia nodded slightly, and Liam could tell she was struggling to hold back tears. She spurred Beauty and rode after her family. Liam watched her ride away, hoping she'd turn around, but she never looked back. Liam shook his head and smiled; that was just like her, to set her shoulders straight, hold her head up and ride away without a glance back. It was exasperating, but he wasn't sure he'd love her if she were any different.

He mounted his horse and rode slowly back to Pirate's Swoop, trying to ignore the nagging wonder if he would ever see her again, if he would ever see his child. At last, unable to delay his arrival any longer, Liam made it to the Swoop. When he walked into the entrance hall, Princess Kendra appeared immediately. She curtsied prettily, look up at him from under her eyelashes. He sighed internally and bowed. He used to find it satisfying when women peeked up at him in such a way, and now he just found it obnoxious. Olivia never did that, unless she was mocking him, and somehow her irony seemed to seep into the action even as she performed the flirtatious movement perfectly. She made him laugh when she looked up at him like a doe, Kendra just made him want to roll his eyes and walk away.

"Your highness," he said smoothly. "What a lovely surprise. I'm afraid you've come all this way for naught though. I leave for the Scanran border in a few days. War has been declared"

"Oh, your highness that is awful," she said unconvincingly. Liam was fairly certain she had somehow already known about the Scanrans. "Well, I'm glad to say good bye to you before you leave. And of course, I wanted to say good-bye to my dear brother Jasper before he leaves for Saren tomorrow," Kendra replied, placing her hand gently on his arm.

"Would you like to do that now?" Liam asked.

Kendra let a flicker of a frown show before covering it with a smile. "I already did, highness. I was hoping you would give me a tour of Pirate's Swoop."

"I need to clean up from my ride, then I'd be happy to," Liam said, smiling back at her in turn.

He bowed, then walked away. As he rounded the corner to where the room he'd shared with Olivia was, he ran into a servant, nearly knocking the man over.

"I'm sorry, your highness," the grey-eyed servant said obsequiously, bowing low.

"It was my fault," he paused, realizing he'd never seen the servant before and didn't know his name. He frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, who are you? I thought I knew all the servants at the Swoop."

"I am Princess Kendra's newest man-servant, highness."

Liam nodded. "What were you doing over here? Wouldn't Kendra be in the bedroom in the other wing?"

"I admit I got lost, your highness. Obviously, I've never been here before. I was looking for the kitchen. Her highness is very particular about how her tea is served."

Liam smiled sympathetically, feeling instantly sorry for any servant of Kendra's. He directed the man to the kitchen then walked back to his own room.

He closed the door and leaned against, a dead feeling opening up in his stomach as he looked at its emptiness. No open jars of lotions or hastily taken off jewelry lay scattered across the vanity. Her favorite re-curved bow no longer leaned in the corner, and the raven armory sword he bought her no longer hung from its belt next to his on the bedpost. He opened one of the bureau drawers and found it empty of her clothes. He felt like crying, but there were no tears in his eyes. He felt empty and unreal, but he walked over to the washbowl and splashed cool water on his face, drying it off and then changing his clothes slowly. Unable to stall any longer, he looked around the partially emptied room one more time before he left to go find Kendra.

----

Sorry it took so long. I'm not totally in writing mode and the moment for some reason, but I'm hoping I will be soon so I won't have to force it so much. I'll try to make the next update more substantial.......Also this may end up like 50 chapters. Ridiculous. Please help motivate me to keep writing and REVIEW!!! It helps ever so much to know that other people want to read what I'm writing.


	33. Chapter 33

Liam gave up on sleeping a few hours before dawn the day he was supposed to leave with his army. He got out of bed and got dressed, going over the maps of the territory he was to retake, fortify and defend one more time. He checked and re-checked that he had every hill, road and village on the map committed to memory. He'd memorized the map the day before while avoiding Kendra, but he wanted to check that her mind-numbing dinner table conversation hadn't caused his brains to disintegrate, leaving his memories far behind. Once he was convinced he had the map solidly in his mind, he stood and walked out to his balcony, hoping the cool breeze would calm his nerves enough so he could get a little bit of sleep. He looked up at the stars and quickly found the North Star. He smiled, knowing that Olivia had probably looked up at the sky earlier that night and seen the same star he did. With a sigh, he went back to bed, closing his eyes and managing to grasp a few hours of sleep before dawn.

Only a bells time after dawn, Liam was preparing to mount his horse and ride off. He hurried the men, eager to leave the Swoop, and Kendra, far behind.

"Prince Liam," Princess Kendra called, walking over towards Liam with a distinct sway of her hips.

Liam stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "How can I help you, your highness?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

She threw herself on him when she got close, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her chest against him. "Please be safe, your highness," she whispered, her lips brushing against his ear. "I couldn't bear it if something were to happen to you."

"Thank you, your highness," Liam said, peeling her arms off of him. "I am sure I will be fine."

Without warning, Kendra kissed him full on the lips, and Liam actually bit his own tongue, he jerked back so hard.

"What, Kendra!" he exclaimed, touching his tongue and coming back with a little blood on his fingers. He could hear a few of his men covering snickers and sighed, knowing he faced teasing once the men got comfortable with him.

"I'm sorry, your highness. I was just so overcome at the thought of harm coming to you."

Liam looked at her, dismayed to realize that she had put her hand to the back of her head dramatically and was swaying, signaling an intent to faint. Deciding to stop the charade once and for all, Liam turned his back on her and mounted his horse. "Goodbye, Princess Kendra," he said, firmly, then turned to his troops and shouted. "Move out."

He left Kendra looking indignant that he'd destroyed the grand show she'd planned and rode out the gates of the Swoop, beginning the long trek up to the border.

---

Despite the warnings of what had occurred, Liam was unprepared for what lay before him when he finally reached the area surrounding Fief Desemont. The forest they rode through gave way and revealed acres and acres of burned crops.

"We don't have time to bury him," Liam said sadly to the silent group of men when they reached the first body. An older man in dark breeches lay in the road; he'd been rotting for the past week, an arrow buried in the back of hid neck. "There will be too many dead between us and where we have to be. Keep moving."

The men all skirted him, continuing the silence that had descended on them as soon as they'd seen the ruined crops. They reached a still standing barn as night began to move in, and Liam recognized fire charms pained into it that explained why it was still there. As he inspected the charms, Liam saw a thin girl dart into the barn and he yelled for the men to halt.

"Is anyone there?" he called. "We mean you no harm. We are here to help rebuild and defend the area." He heard a few muted noises before the barn door opened and the young girl came out. A woman, he realized, not a girl, in her older teenage years probably. She looked severely underfed and dirty.

Liam dismounted, keeping his hands away from his weapons in hopes to keep her from getting scared.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Pila," she said.

"Is there anyone else alive in there?"

She shifted her weight, uneasy.

"We are going to camp here for the night," Liam said, signaling for his men to dismount. "If you or anyone else in there wants food or blankets we have some to spare."

Liam kept his eyes trained on the girl as his men quickly prepared camp behind him. He could tell how badly she wanted food. He doubted she'd had almost anything to eat in the past week. He moved to his saddle and pulled out some jerky. He walked towards her and she flinched away, turning her head to reveal bruises on her neck. He gritted his teeth, recognizing what those marks meant on the neck of a woman and understanding why she was nervous around him.

"Alma," he shouted, calling for the group's healer and only woman. The graying, slightly overweight woman hurried over at his call.

"What do you need, your highness?" she asked quickly.

"Alma, this is Pita. Pita, Alma, our healer. She can look to your bruises and any other injuries you and your people have and she'll help you get food. I need to get the camp set up." He walked away, knowing Alma's bossy maternalness would break through the girl's reticence. By the time Liam sat down with his bowl of food, he saw Pila and four women around her age or a little order, one with a young boy in her lap, all eating heartily from their bowls under Alma's watchful gaze.

Liam beckoned over his second-in-command. "Hazan, you tell the men, quietly, that if any of them so much as flirts with one of those girls they will be on latrine duty for a month. Friendly chatting is fine, anything else and I will not be happy."

Hazan nodded, his dark eyes betraying nothing. "Yes, highness."

Liam sighed. He didn't know the men well yet, and Hazan in particular betrayed none of his emotions. He hated the early part of any command, where you were still learning which men could be trusted and how they all behaved. They had a long trek in front of them, and the quicker he got to know his men, the better. He'd been hoping at least some food source would be available, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. They'd brought extra grain and meat with them, but they weren't going to be able to feed everyone they met on those stores alone. Once they were settled, some of his soldiers would have to be hunting or fishing almost always, and he'd have to write to his father for more grain to be sent. He'd also have to tell him that they definitely had the worst case scenario. He could only hope that some men of with fighting experience were camped with Lord Desemont, or else he was in serious trouble. His gaze drifted over to Pita. If not, she, and all those like her, would doubtless have to fight under his command. She looked up at him as he watched her and smiled slightly, nodding her thanks. He recognized the spark in her eye and smiled back; she'd fight either way. He glanced up at the sky, and gave a little prayer to Mithros that the North Star would guide her and the rest of them back home again before eating the last of his food and heading for bed.

----

Yay! Writing that George/Alanna piece definitely kick-started things again. I suddenly started writing like crazy, so hopefully this keeps up and updates will speed up. I also started planning my Zenobia Part 2 fic. I'm thinking of putting a teaserish chapter to kind of hint at what will happen in that story on Kalasin's Guard so people who had it on autoread know to look for the sequal pretty soon. Don't worry though, I'll finish this before I delve into Zenobia's newest adventure. I can't wait though. I do love her so.

Thank you so so much to everyone who reviewed--you all definitely kept me going through the rough patch.


	34. Chapter 34

"You're sure?" Liam asked.

"Yes, Liam. I'm sure," Daine said softly.

"How long are they going to be there?"

"I overheard them say they are leaving the day after tomorrow."

"Do you know where there headed?"

"I'm not sure. It sounded like they were headed towards Snowvalley."

"You're sure about the numbers. According to the numbers I got from George a week ago, that's well over two-thirds of their fighting force camped there."

"That's right."

Liam blew out, gripping the edge of the newly built rampart until his knuckles were white. "They could be headed for the Samerdom fief. They'd wipe out the last of our grain stores up here. Raoul might not get there in time to stop them, even if you leave tonight."

"What are you going to do?" Daine asked.

Liam smiled at her sadly. He turned and looked out at their fort. It was hardly a fort. They'd rebuilt Lord Desemont's walls, but they all still slept in tents and sat on the ground around small campfires to eat. Most of the camp was asleep. He knew each and every one of them now. He'd lost only a few men and women over the last three months, and he'd collected many, slowly building and training his force. The Lords were right. Tortall had a large population, even in the North, and they'd found their way to his camp. At this point they were under-trained and under-fed, but they were sleeping in his camp and they were all willing to fight for him. They trusted him.

"I can end this war tomorrow, or I can risk starvation in the North," he said, not looking at Daine. "Of course I know what I'm going to do."

"What do you want me to do? I can stay here and bring the animals in, or"

Liam shook his head, cutting her off midsentence. "There's no sense in both of us sending our friends to their death. Head to Giantkiller. There's a good chance that we'll need extra men to finish off what we've started."

"I'll leave now. I can get to Giantkiller by dawn. It'll take us three days, maybe four if this storm starts."

"I know," Liam said. "Daine, there's a letter among my things. If I don't…" Liam trailed off.

"I'll see that she gets it," Diane replied. "Goddess bless, Liam. I remember when I first came to Tortall and you were but a babe. Now look at you. No one should have to make this decision, ever, but you made it. Your father will be so proud," she whispered.

"Am I making the right one though? That's always the question," Liam said when she pulled away.

Daine shrugged. "I don't know. What do you think?"

"I think I have to risk losing all my fighters to end this war before we get dragged into years of fighting, and famine from all our crops being destroyed. Gods curse the man. He's worse then King Maggot. Destroying our crops deliberately to starve us out is vile. I'd bet that's what these men are for. I have to attack. Overall, we'll probably lose less people, unless Raoul can get to them first and protect the crops. It's too risky to wait though."

"I don't know how you do it," Daine said. "Cold, hard logic."

Liam smiled grimly. "I learned from the best. Olivia always can just remove emotion and look at a problem and find the solution. If I do the same here, if I don't think about how much these people mean to me, and only think about the bottom line of total lives lost, the choice is obvious. She'd do the same thing. I just wish she were here to tell me so."

"You'll see her again, Liam."

"I hope so. I haven't even got a letter from her since the first month the roads have been so bad, and I don't know if she got any of mine." Liam sighed. "Enough of that, go. We need you to get to Raoul as soon as possible. Go, and be safe."

Liam watched Daine soar off into the sky and sent a little prayer up that the wind would stay with her and the snow wouldn't fall. He stayed up there for a long time, knowing attempting to sleep would be useless. Eventually he heard steps along the rampart and he turned to see Pila walking towards him.

"Have you slept at all tonight, highness?" she asked. "You know you get cranky when you don't sleep."

Liam smiled at her tiredly. "Great men don't need sleep, same goes for women."

"I never said you need it, just that your fair unbearable when you don't get any. No disrespect intended of course, your highness."

Liam laughed at the saucy adolescent. "Of course you didn't mean anything."

"Why are you up here fretting, highness?"

"We are in for quite the battle tomorrow, Pila. I just found out that most of the Scanran fighting force is camped not far from here."

"We are going after them?" Pila asked.

Liam nodded.

"Good," Pila said, vehemently. She saw the surprise on Liam's face and continued. "I'm guessing they outnumber us from how worried you seem, but I'm tired to fighting them off when they come after us. I want to give them a few good licks, even if I die doing it. They destroyed my home and my family."

Liam clapped Pila on the shoulder. "If we both make it out of this, you are coming back to Corus with me. We need fighters with fire like yours. Perhaps in the Riders."

"If? You really don't think we'll make it, do you, highness?"

When Liam didn't reply, Pila turned and looked out over the camp. Then she blew out a deep breath in frustration. "I wish that Thor weren't such a fathead. I like him, he's a decent sort of bloke, and if we are about to march off to our deaths I'd like at least one kiss before I go, but he refuses to even hold my hand. Silly boy."

Liam shifted his weight and looked way. Pila studied him for a moment, then demanded, "What did you do?"

"I warned the men off all of you when you came."

Pila threw her hands up in the air. "Is that why none of them will touch us, or even flirt with us? Oh for the sake of the goddess. I'm sure you meant well, but we all were beginning to wonder if southern boys thought northern girls smelled bad the way they ran away from us like scittish foals."

"Well, you go find Thor and tell him that I reversed my orders alright? I just had guessed what you all had been through. I didn't want them making it worse."

Pila squeezed his arm. "You're a wonderful commander of men, your highness, but us women can take care of our ownselves. Give us some room to make our own decisions in the future. Now, I'm off to find Thor, and you go to bed. We don't need you falling asleep in the middle of battle tomorrow."

Liam smiled. "I've been too nice to you, you bossy little thing. I'm the Prince of Tortall, you can't command me."

"You need someone around to tell you the plain truth, sir, and you well now it. Now off with you."

Liam tugged the younger girl's hair. "Off with you, and use a pregnancy charm. I need no pregnant soldiers."

Pila saluted then rushed down the ramparts, leaving Liam to walk slowly down behind her. As he settled into his bed roll, he listened to the snores and wheezes of his people and suddenly cold fear gripped him as he contemplated what morning would bring. Could he really send them to their deaths? He flipped over and slid his hand under his pillow. His hands felt paper, and he pulled out the one letter he'd received from Olivia. He smoothed it out in front of him, using a little bit of his Gift to re-read it for the thousandth time. As he read her descriptions of the garden she had planted and the villagers that lived near her, he felt Olivia's warmth surround him and he could almost hear her voice telling him not to be ridiculous. _Pila told you didn't she? It's their home too. They want their neighbors starved no more than you do. You can't take the blame for everything. Now stop being silly, and go to sleep. _

He put the letter away and pulled his bedroll around him, the sound of Olivia's voice in his head and the words he imagined she'd say lulling him to sleep.

----

Whoops, her name is Pila. Maybe I got hungry and started thinking about Pita bread? Anyways, I'll fix next chapter later. Sorry it took me awhile. I wrote this a bunch of different ways, trying to figure out how much I wanted. Finally, I decided the point of this story wasn't really to know every bit of this war, so I didn't go into all that. I promise there is a point to all this. Review and let me know what you think! I promise I don't take criticism personally, and of course I love praise!


	35. Chapter 35

"Fall back," Liam shouted, hoping desperately that his fighters could hear him and follow his voice, even if they couldn't see him. The sun was down, and soon its rays would disappear entirely. "Fall back to the fort. Carry any wounded if you can."

A sword came swinging at him, and Liam barely stopped it with his own before it sliced through his skull. His tired muscles screamed as he planted his feet and held off the blow from the taller man. He couldn't make out his attacker's face in the fading sunlight, but the man was a head taller then Liam and wore his heavy armor as though it weighed nothing, even after a full day of fighting.

"You," the man spat in Scanran. "You dare attack me and my men."

Liam's eyes widened. "You started this war, Samen," Liam hissed back. The part of his brain that always seemed completely removed from battle informed him that his language teacher would be displeased since he'd mangled his verb conjugation. Liam ignored this, and instead pushed with the last of his strength and slid out from the other man's sword.

Samen laughed. "It is only fitting that it comes down to the two of us. Our men have all killed each other it seems, though I hear a few clangs in the distance. Not quite all are dead."

Liam dodged another of Samen's attacks, then jumped back to miss another. He knew the other man would overpower him if the locked swords again. Silently he thanked Olivia for forcing him to work on agility and endurance for all those months as he jumped away again. He thrust forward with his sword, but Samen blocked the blow and countered with his own. Liam stepped quickly to the side. He could barely see anything anymore, and he desperately looked for an opening. As he dodged another blow, he stumbled on something and only just managed to twist away from a fatal strike to his chest. As it was, Samen's sword sunk deep into the muscle of his bicep, and Liam bit back a cry of pain and swung his sword out, managing to slice through Samen's thigh. Samen gapped at him as he fell over, shocked that Liam had managed to return his blow so quickly. Blood pooled quickly around him as it became clear Liam had punctured the large vein in his leg. Leaning over, Liam deftly slit the big man's throat, saving him from a slow death by blood loss. As he stood back up his vision swam, and he used his sword to hold himself up.

He put his hands up to his mouth and whistled with all his strength. "It's over," he shouted hoarsely. "Gather the wounded. Fall back to castle."

He began staggering towards where he had last heard fighting. He used his gift to light up around him, stumbling through the battlefield and bodies in search for anyone alive. He knew each of the faces of the dead soldiers and civilians in Tortallan colors. Even Lord Desemont lay there, a war hammer in his back. The man with a large whole in his chest played the flute beautifully. Elise lay there to. She was even younger than Pila, and she'd never spoken after the Scanrans came. Pila said her whole family and her betrothed had been killed before her eyes. He'd never liked this man. Terrence was lazy and did whatever he could to avoid latrine duty, but he'd fought for his country with all that he had. Oh Mithros, there was Hazan. Liam stooped down and closed his second in command's eyes. Hazan had been the best second Liam had ever had; he was smart, efficient and knew when to just do as he was told and when to make suggestions. He had a wife and four daughters in Corus, and Liam made a note to visit them when he returned and do anything he could for them. It was the least he could do.

"What are you doing?" a tart voice came out of the darkness, and Liam sighed in relief.

"Looking for survivors," Liam croaked.

"You are the only one left with a healing gift as far as I can tell and you are wasting it on light. I have four wounded I dragged over by that tree. We can't tell which direction the fort is though. Can you see to them while I look for others with my torch that doesn't waste a healing power?" Pila demanded.

Liam scowled, but walked over to the tree she pointed out, dousing his magical light.

"Liam, you are bleeding. Stop wait."

Pila tore a strip off the bottom of her shirt and wrapped it around his upper arm, tightening it ruthlessly. "There. We don't need you passing out. Caraden in particular needs you. I got the bleeding to stop, but…"

"I'll see to him Pila. Go see if you can find anyone else."

Liam continued over to the tree. He found four men, and it didn't take him but a moment to realize that there was nothing he could do for Caraden. He eased the man's pain, then turned to the other three, healing only as much as necessary in hopes that there were others who would need his help. Pila came back with two more men as he finished. One of the men, Aron, had a sluggishly bleeding wound on his head. Jayseb seemed to be fine, but he carried a woman in his arm. Liam recognized her golden curls instantly, even through the mud that covered them now. She was Pila's best friend, Sandra.

"Put her down," Liam said hurriedly. He examined her swiftly, pouring his gift into her wounds. There were already infections in two of her wounds, and she had a fever. She must have been wounded early in the day and lay untended for hours. Alma had been hit by a stray arrow sometime in the afternoon and even before she'd died she hadn't been able to keep up with the wounded.

"We need to get her back to camp," Liam said. "We have more supplies there. Clean bandages, herbs. I'm worried about almost all of you getting infections, and she already has a few. Jayseb and Pila keep looking for the wounded and for Mithros' sake be careful. I'll never forgive you if a lone Scanran takes you down at this point. The rest of us will move back to camp. Have you seen any horses about?"

Pila trotted off into the darkness, then returned leading two horses Liam didn't recognize trotted over. His own horse had his belly slit open by a Scanran spear. Liam would feel the loss of the horse that had carried him through boyhood keenly later, but for now he had to make sure those few men he had left actually survived.

"I didn't want to leave them to near for fear their noise would bring any leftover Scanrans to us," Pila said.

Liam nodded. "Well done. Most hardened soldiers wouldn't have thought to nab horses let alone tie them up a little away."

"How will you get back?" Pila asked. "We can only see two feet in front of us with these blasted torches. There's not even a moon tonight."

Liam pointed up. "The North Star is still there though, guiding us. The camp is due south of us, so just head south. If either of you start feeling weak or ill, head back, together. I mean it. No heroics. We've had enough deaths today."

"What do you want us to do if we find Scanrans?"

Liam's gut clenched, but he said what needed to be said. "Any left will be too wounded to have returned to Scanra. We don't have the healers for them. Just put them out of their misery."

Jayseb swallowed and looked vaguely ill at the thought, but Pila just nodded, her jaw set. She gripped her torch and pulled her sword out before marching off, turning and glaring at Jayseb when he didn't follow her right away.

Liam motioned to Aron, who helped him load Sandra onto one of the two horses. He helped up the least wounded man to sit behind Sandra, so he could hold her up. Liam helped the other two men on the second horse, then he and Aron led the horses back to their camp. It was slow going, but finally they made it back to their fort. Liam left the gate open, knowing it was unlikely that their injured group would be able to close it, let alone open it up again when Pila and Jayseb returned.

He managed to get a fire going and piled a few of the many extra bedrolls on Sandra, hoping to sweat the fever out. He smeared Alma's herbs on wounds, cleaning them out. Pila and Jayseb returned a few times with more wounded, and Liam drained himself trying to save them. Even with all his efforts Caradan was followed to the Black God's realm by two other men. Shortly before dawn, Pila insisted he stop. "You haven't even tended to your arm. You are no good to us dead. Sit down and let me clean it at least."

Liam complied, sitting down heavily on a log. Pila efficiently swabbed out his wound. "This is deep," she commented. "I suppose you'll refuse to heal it."

When Liam nodded, she fetched a needle and thread from Alma's kit. "You need stitches. This'll hurt."

Liam gritted his teeth and looked away, thankful that Pila worked quickly. "You and Jayseb need to eat and rest," he croaked when she finished. He forced himself to stand again and walked over to the supplies. He handed her and Aron some jerkey. "How much have you searched?"

Pila shrugged. "Most of the main battlefield as near as we can tell. In the dark a lot wandered off though. We'll have to wait until morning to find them, and perhaps a few will find their way back."

Liam looked around. "We have seventeen now, though Sandra and three of the others may not make it. I'm sorry Pila. I'm doing all I can for Sandra, but she must have been wounded early."

"She was," Pila said, her eyes tired. "I saw her go down before we were an hour in. I thought she was dead so I didn't even go check on her. Not that I could of, surrounded as we were. None of us would have made it without you. We lost formation there and nearly lost it all in the fear of that first attack, but you got us back in line so we could kill as many as killed us, more even perhaps. How are you that loud, highness?"

Liam managed a smile. "They actually train us to pitch our voices so they can be heard across battlefields. Raoul taught me when I was a small boy. I used to drive mother mad, using my battlefield voice in the castle all the time. Enough. We should sleep now, while we can. I think two or three of the men will be healthy enough to help you tomorrow. At the very least we can put them on the horses so they can help take the wounded back here again and you two can stay out there. My thanks to both of you. You've saved many men today."

Pila handed him some jerkey. "I'm not going anywhere until you eat that."

When Liam tried to protest, Pila just glared at him, her hands on her hips. Liam sighed and ate a few pieces before glaring at her. "Who commands who here?" he demanded.

Pila smiled and sat down next to him. "Your highness, I would follow your every command when it comes to fighting, but you need to have someone to speak bluntly to you or else you'd die in each of your commands. I'm not sure how you survived before."

"I was never on my own before," Liam admitted. "I always had Raoul or Padraig or someone who was in command over me, so I didn't have to do everything and they usually made sure I slept and ate and cleaned my wounds."

"Well, if you are commanding on your own, you need to make sure you have someone with you who can boss you around. You need a nagging wife, your highness. I'm not offering though. You're too gentlemanly for my taste."

Liam laughed. "I'm working on it."

Pila handed him some more food. "Tell me about her."

Liam looked at her. "What are you up to?" he demanded suspiciously.

Pila patted his shoulder. "I was hoping if you thought of something nice now, you might find it easier to sleep. Now tell me about her."

"You can't tell anyone."

"Who am I going to tell?" Pila demanded. "Now go on."

"Her name is Olivia. She's a princess from Saren, well she was before she was disowned."

"I thought you were supposed to marry a Princess from Saren. That's the rumors my Da brought back when he went to Corus to sell his goods."

Liam nodded. "I'm supposed to marry Olivia's sister."

Pila gasped. "This is even better than when Lord Desemont's daughter was sneaking down to visit with my neighbor's son."

"What?" Liam exclaimed, "which daughter?" Liam had meant a few of them, and he couldn't imagine any of those prissy little creatures deigning to speak to commoners.

"The eldest. The one who supposedly was carried off by Scanrans."

Liam smiled. "Well at least some good came of that. I saw Lord Desemont and his son out there though. She's the heir to the fief now. We'll have to track her down."

"Please do," Pila said fervently. "I don't want none of those other girls running any fief I live on."

"Pila, you really should come to Corus and join the Riders."

Pila shrugged. "I'm not that fond of horses, and I prefer the foot soldier fighting we learned from you."

Liam nodded. "Well, come back anyways and we'll figure something out. It's about time women were allowed into other parts of our fighting force, and you are a natural. It would be a shame to lose you."

"I was going to go to Corus either way, your highness. There's naught for me here, and I have an aunt who lives there. Now tell me about Olivia."

Liam told her everything, and Pila listened to him wide eyes, making sympathetic noises and whooping when appropriate. At last, Liam felt his eyes get heavy, and he and Pila both headed for their beadrolls. Liam fell asleep easily, his thoughts sufficiently distracted from the events of the day.

------

Review!!! My lack of reviews has been making me sad, but thank you so much to those of you who have been!! Also, Zenobia teaser will be coming soon so keep an eye out for Kalasin's Guard to pop back up again.


	36. Chapter 36

Liam woke shortly before dawn, covered in sweat and shaking. He sat up and put his head in his hands. He'd been expecting the nightmares. He had gotten them when Padraig had gone down while he was a Squire, and six men had died after he took over command. They had gone away fairly quickly, but he knew these wouldn't. He'd willingly led his people in for a slaughter. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the negative thoughts and got up. He checked on each of the wounded, pleased with the progress of two of the more severely wounded men, but worried about Sandra. Her fever was still bad, and she was shaking despite the many layers covering her. He rummaged through the supplies and found a meat bone and some vegetables. He put it them in water to boil over the fire, hoping a strong broth would help revive Sandra, assuming she could be woken and fed in a few hours.

Liam let them all sleep past dawn, but eventually he shook Aron, Pila and Jayseb awake. He sent them out with the horses to look for any more survivors, warning them to be careful.

A few people trickled into camp as the day continued, and Pila and the others brought back more survivors than Liam had hoped for, but he was left drained and exhausted as he struggled to keep every one alive. After the second day, they had thirty-seven survivors. A blizzard hit that evening, and Liam scrambled to keep everyone warm enough. Sandra in particular was fading fast, and though Pila acted tough, Liam could tell that losing her would push her over the edge of her grief.

He and the few other healthy survivors worked endlessly to keep everyone alive. Keeping bandages dry and the fires going proved almost impossible as the snow continued to fall hard. Despite his efforts, two men died on the first day of the blizzard, and four more followed on the second. He'd expected Raoul and his men to arrive the third day when he'd begun rationing food, but the blizzard meant that their relief would be delayed. Their food supply was limited, and Liam was forced to begin rationing it, fearing that if they had no rescue and no way to hunt, they would run out of food.

Four days later, they were beginning to run low on food and Liam was down eleven more men. He hardly eaten anything in the last two days, his stomach unhappy with the amount of healing he'd been doing anyways so he'd decided to leave off to ensure that the wounded were getting enough to keep their strength up. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept more then an hour at a time. The blizzard was finally beginning to let up, but the snow was still falling steadily. As he checked on Sandra, he heard a cough behind him. He turned and saw Pila, shivering as she looked at him.

"How is she?" she crooked.

Liam shrugged. "The same, which is better then most are doing. Now that the snow is letting up, I'm hoping Raoul will get here within two days. Perhaps we can go hunt—"

He stopped as Pila began coughing again, finally doubling over as she fought to catch her breath. Liam cursed and walked over to her, feeling her forehead.

"You're burning up. How long have you been coughing?"

Pila shrugged. "I can't even tell the days apart at this point," she said tiredly. "Don't even think about healing me. I'll be—"

Another coughing fit interrupted her words. Liam struggled with his instinct to heal her. At this point she should be fine, though he worried about her food intake, suspecting she'd given most of her rations to others when he wasn't looking. She'd never recovered her body fat from the starvation she'd suffered before he and his men had arrived, and he doubted she'd been completely nourished even before the Scanrans came. Without the fat to draw energy on, her body would have nothing with which to fight even the most basic of colds, and she was well on her way to severe pneumonia.

"Into bed with you," he ordered. "Now, no arguments. Get in the bedroll with Sandra, pile the extras on. Maybe the two of you can keep each other warm. I need you to survive Pila. Do you understand me? You have to survive."

Seeing the look on his face, Pila nodded. Liam doubted she had the energy to fight him anyways. He watched her crawl in with Sandra, then dragged over a few of the extra bedrolls leftover from the men who died the day before and piled them on. Despite Pila's protest, he used a touch of his gift to ease the coughing that racked her, hoping she could sleep better then and her body could heal. Once she was asleep, Liam checked on all the men. Another one had died since he'd last checked. He waved Jayseb over and the big man helped him drag the body over to pile they'd made on the other side of the camp wall. Liam hated leaving them unburied for so long, but the snow meant that even Stormwings wouldn't disturb them for now. As he made his way back to the main camp he heard a horse whiney, and drew his sword wearily, wondering how he was going to summon up the energy to fight off Scanrans. He forced himself to run back to camp with difficulty, and Jayseb followed closely on his heels, his sword drawn as well.

By the time they got close enough to see, Liam could tell the camp was surrounded. He slowed and motioned to Jayseb to do the same, wondering where all these fighters had come from and why no one had so much as cried out.

He moved quietly towards the camp, careful to keep his footsteps silent. When he got closer, he cried out and dropped his sword. "Roald!"

His brother turned around and smiled at Liam, striding forward and hugging his brother warmly.

"There you are. Are you alright?" Even as Roald asked the question, Liam could feel his Gift moving through him, finishing up the healing on his arm and getting rid of the sniffles that Liam had woken up with that morning.

"Don't waste your Gift on me," Liam said. "I'm fine."

Roald ignored him, continuing his work. "We brought plenty of healers. Come on. You need food and to sit by the fire."

Out of habit as much as anything else, Liam obeyed his brother, letting him lead him to the fire, sit him down and wrap a blanket around him. When Roald handed him some food, he ate it mechanically.

"How are you?" Roald asked quietly. "I know this must have been hard."

Liam shrugged, not meeting his brother's eyes. Roald gripped his shoulder. "You did right. George just got word to us from our spies. You were right; they were headed for our grain stores. You ended the war before they starved this whole area."

Liam nodded numbly. "How did you get here through that blizzard?" Liam asked, not wanting to talk about his decisions.

"Daine got to us quickly, so we were most of the way here when the blizzard hit. We just trudged through each day. We didn't get far, but we didn't stop moving. Thank Mithros you are alright. Now drink this. You could use something warm in you."

Liam took the cup, not bothering to ask what it was before taking a deep gulp of the hot liquid. Now that there were others to deal with all the necessary logistics, Liam's thoughts moved to the nightmares that had plagued the few hours he'd managed to close his eyes.

Seeing the dazed look on his brother's face, Roald said, "Liam, go to sleep."

Liam shook his head. "First, I need to check on Pila. Then, I'll sleep."

"She's the mouthy one, right?"

Liam nodded.

"She's fine. I healed her up myself, while Alanna saw to her friend. Now sleep. You need it. We are going to try and send all of you and the soldiers to Giantkiller tomorrow morning. Second company and Raoul will stay here and continue your rebuilding efforts. I'll spell you to sleep through today and tonight. That might help restore some of your Gift stores."

Blue fire danced before his eyes, drowning out his protests and forcing his eyes shut and sleep to come. Despite his brother's spell, Liam's still woke him several hours before dawn. Drenched in cold sweat, Liam tossed his bedroll aside and stood. The snow had stopped and the skies were clear. Liam walked softly around, checking on his fighters. Those that were left would make it. He'd lost too many of them though, even after the battle was over. He climbed the ramparts and looked out over the snowfields. Freshly dug graves lined one side of the wall. They must have used magic to do it. The snow covered the bodies still left on the battlefield. As Liam looked out, he replayed his orders in his head. Pila was right. That moment when the line had broke was when it had turned ugly. Could he have prevented it? He repaired the break as quickly as possible. He was sure of yhsy. But why had the line broken? What could he have done? When dawn's first rays hit the sky, Alanna joined him on the ramparts.

"I talked to your men," Alanna commented. "You did well. You did all of us that had anything to do with your training proud."

"I could have done more," Liam whispered. "There must have been more I could have done."

"Could of's won't bring any of them back," Alanna said dryly. "Now pack your things."

Liam looked at her. "Now? Most of the men aren't awake. It will take us hours to get all the wounded up and ready to travel."

"True enough, but you and I are leaving now."

"Why?"

"Roald spoke to Jon last night. His majesty has decided I deserve some rest at Pirate's Swoop, as do you. The sooner we leave, the sooner I get to go home."

Liam immediately felt a leap of happiness at the thought of seeing Olivia, but he quickly deflated. "I can't leave them now."

"They are fine. You got them this far. The rest can take it from here. They'll get them healed up, give them special commendations and purses to match and make sure they have some place to go. None of them will have to do any more fighting."

When Liam opened his mouth to argue again, Alanna gave him her fiercest look. "Did you not hear me say the sooner we leave, the sooner I get to go home? Go pack. Now."

Liam grinned, knowing he wouldn't win the argument. He turned and raced down the stairs as quickly as he could. He packed quickly, but insisted on waiting till everyone woke to leave. He said good-bye to all those who'd been under his command individually and elicited a promise from Pila that she would come find him in Cours. At last he mounted the horse Roald had brought for him and dug his heels gently into the mare's side. He and Alanna headed South as fast as the snow would let them, both happy at the thought of returning home.

----

Thanks for all those reviews for last chapter. It makes me happy and want to write more and faster so keep it up!!!

PS Zenobia teaser is up as well.


	37. Chapter 37

It took two weeks of riding for Alanna and Liam to get through the snow and down to Pirate's Swoop, much to both of their annoyance. They split ways when they hit the Swoop, and Liam pushed his tired horse to a gallop as he rode South towards Olivia's cottage. The leaves of the trees along the way were all orange and red, falling down in piles. How could it still be fall here when the snow had taken at least ten of his men two weeks ago up North? At last the break in the trees came, and Liam slowed his horse down. He rounded the bend and saw the cottage, all covered with green vines now. His dreary thoughts disappeared immediately when he his eyes rested on her, crouched in the garden. The jingle from his horse's reigns caused her to stand up, and she turned to look at him, her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun sinking behind him.

He dismounted and tied his horse to the post absent-mindedly, looking her over. She blushed at his gaze, looking at the ground as she tucked a piece of hair that had fallen loose from her messy braid behind her ear and smoothed her hands over the over-sized shirt that stretched tight over her large stomach. Dirt stained her hands as well as her clothes, evidence of a long day in the garden.

They both stood there for a moment, Liam unsure of what to do until at last Olivia looked up and met his eyes. As soon as she looked at him, he strode over to her without hesitation, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her desperately. She responded eagerly, sliding her arms around his neck and moving one hand gently through the hair on the back of his head.

All thoughts fled from his mind as they kissed, and he picked her up, some part of him registering the extra weight on her as he opened up her door and moved quickly through the little cottage to her bed. He put her down on it gently, kissing her again and moving to pull her shirt up over her head. To Liam's surprise, she pulled back, turning her head and pushing his hand away.

Liam sat back, looking her over and seeing her blush. "Olivia, what's wrong?" he asked, reaching out to place a hand on her cheek and gently forcing her to look at him.

"I just," Olivia stopped, blushing again. "I wish I'd known you were coming. I'm dirty and huge and you are used to court beauties with make up and small waists and perfumes and—"

Liam's laugh cut her off. "Olivia, I've been living in a tent for months with men who thought bathing was a luxury, not a necessity, and you're big with our baby. I don't care about any of that. When did you get insecure?"

Olivia frowned. "It's this damned pregnancy. It makes me all…emotional. I hate it. Do you know I found a dead squirrel and I cried for hours. Over a dead squirrel! And it's all your fault!"

Liam smiled again, moving to lean against the backboard and pulling her into his lap. "Well, I'm sorry for making you emotional. I promise to do it at most only a few more times in the future, and not for a few years here." Olivia chuckled softly, and he nuzzled her neck, breathing in the earthy smell of her. He kicked his boots off as he kissed her, then reached down and removed her shoes and sock, running his finger lightly over her ankles and smiling she shivered slightly at the touch. He leaned back and pulled her against his chest, resting his chin on the top of her head as he undid her braid and tangled his fingers through her hair.

"Liam," Olivia said quietly, breaking the silence after a few moments, "What happened?"

Liam shook his head. "Later. I'll tell you later. For now, I just want to forget, forget all of it."

Olivia nodded, reaching her fingers up to touch his face and kissing him gently on the lips. She pulled back so she could look at him and smiled. "I think I can help you with that," she whispered, shifting so that she could kiss him more easily.

This time when Liam reached a hand up under her shirt, she didn't stop him. She let him explore the curve of her admittedly large stomach. He gently pulled her shirt up and over her head, then moved his hand to caress the sides of her breasts.

"You know," he said in conversational tone, "Your stomach isn't the only thing that's grown quite large over these past few months."

Olivia grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it. "Wretch."

Liam caught her wrist before she could hit him again. Easily, he gripped both of them in one hand, pulling them back up overhead so she arched her back and smiled.

Liam leaned down and kissed her neck and her shoulder, running his spare hand over her, moving slowly as he explored the changes to her body. He released her hands and sat back on his heels between her legs.

"You are still as beautiful as ever," he said decisively. "Maybe even more beautiful."

With a little more difficulty then usual, Olivia propped herself up into a sitting position. She reached up and brushed his hair off his forehead. "You're not too bad yourself, tiger," she said softly, searching his face before she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the mouth.

The kiss deepened easily, and Liam quickly slid off the rest of their clothes. He lay on his side next to her, trailing his fingers up her inner leg and settling between them. She gasped and gripped the blanket under her as he touched, and he smiled as he heard her whisper his name. He began to move between her legs, then pulled back slightly and frowned. "How?" he asked.

Olivia laughed and turned him over. "Why don't you let me take care of it? I think you could use a little relaxation," she said huskily, kissing him again before she straddled him and gradually slid down around him, making them both gasp with pleasure. She moved slowly against him, drawing it out. Liam put his hands on her hips and moved his own to match hers. As was always the case with her, Liam felt like he was doing exactly what he was supposed to, like he was home. This time, he also felt a warmth and security that made him feel safe for the first time since he'd left her. At last she sped up, bringing them both seamlessly to their finish before she lay down next to him.

She slid an arm under his neck, pulling him gently to her so his head lay against her chest. He rubbed his hand slowly over her stomach, and she gently massaged the back of his neck with the tips of her fingers.

"Thank you," Liam said softly, kissing her collarbone.

Olivia chuckled softly and kissed the top of his head. "Just returning an old favor you'd done for me, ohmi, and I must admit I didn't mind much anyways."

Liam lay there for a few minutes, just listening to her heartbeat. Finally, he said, "I led my men knowingly into a bloodbath. We ended the war with one battle, but I lost almost all of my fighters. And then I lost even more after the battle as the snow fell and the food dwindled. I walked into that battle with three hundred some people. I walked off that field thirty-seven, and nineteen made it until our reinforcements showed up."

"But the war is over now?"

"Yes, and the force we defeated was on its way to our main food stores. They were looking to starve us and the whole area."

"You did right, Liam. I know that doesn't help much, but you know you did right."

"I know," Liam replied quietly. "But I marched my people in for death."

"It should weigh down on you. You wouldn't be a commander, or even a decent human being, if those deaths didn't weigh on you. But don't feel guilty, Liam. Feel sorrow for the results of war, but this isn't your guilt to bear."

Liam propped himself up and kissed her. "You always know what to say."

Olivia smiled. "I try. Now, when's the last time you slept through the night? Or ate a decent meal? Don't you dare lie to me."

"I can't even remember the last time I slept more then a few hours. I had a few decent meal the last few days. Aunt Alanna stood over me and growled whenever I tried to leave food on my plate."

"Well, then sleep now, ohmi," Olivia said, sitting up slightly. "I'm going to take a bath."

Liam reached up and pulled her down to him. "No."

Olivia laughed. "No?"

"No. You are staying here and sleeping with me," Liam said, moving her on her side and spooning around her.

"But I'm dirty," Olivia whined.

"I don't care. You're staying here with me."

"Fine," Olivia sighed, snuggling back against him.

Liam felt her breathing become more rhythmic, and he tried to match his to hers, hoping it would help him sleep. Suddenly, she gasped breaking into his calm and causing him to sit straight up. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Your baby decided to make herself known."

"Himself," Liam said automatically.

Olivia laughed and took his hand, moving his hand over her belly. She paused, her hand on top of his, when Liam felt a slight kick under his hand.

"That is amazing," Liam said, wonder filling his voice.

"Isn't it. She, or he, will do that for a while. Just leave your hand there and you'll feel most of it."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not really. The first time is always a little bit of a surprise, but it doesn't hurt."

Liam felt another kick and smiled. "We have a strong child in there."

"Of course we do, it's ours," Olivia replied.

Liam lay back down behind her, keeping his hand on her belly. Between Olivia's breathing and the soft kicks under his hand, Liam had no trouble falling into a peaceful and dream-free sleep.

------

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	38. Chapter 38

Liam woke up slowly, confused and disoriented. He was warm, the bed was soft and something smelled wonderful. He opened his eyes and blinked as the sunlight hit his eyes. He felt the bed shift, and then Olivia's cool hand on his forehead, pushing back his hair.

"Hey you," she said.

Liam flipped over to face her and smiled. "Hey you. Good morning."

"Good afternoon," Olivia corrected. "You slept a long time, ohmi. It's almost time for dinner. I didn't want to wake you. I figured you needed the sleep. Did you dream?"

Liam propped himself up and shook his head. Olivia leaned in and gave him a kiss. "Good. Are you hungry?"

Liam nodded enthusiastically, making Olivia laugh out loud. "Alright, stay here and I'll bring you some food."

She came back with a tray piled high with food. Liam dug in with zest, impressed by the quality of her cooking. He tried to compliment her, but she just swatted him upside his head and told him not to talk with his mouth full. Once he'd gotten his fill, he put the tray aside and pulled Olivia to him.

"That was wonderful, love. Did you eat?"

"I rarely stop eating. Now, I have you rested and fed, next comes bathing."

"Is that really necessary?" Liam murmured, kissing her on the neck and tugging at her shirt.

"Yes, you reek," Olivia replied tartly. "Get up, ohmi. I heated up some water for you while you were eating."

She stood up and pulled the covers off him, poking and prodding him until he got up. "Nag. Nag. Nag," he muttered, but got up and let her lead him to the next room.

Once he'd slid into the large tub, he turned and scowled at her. "You filled this tub up with hot water twice. This water is clean, and you bathed today," Liam said sharply. "You shouldn't be doing things like that."

"Pregnant women all over Tortall do heavy labor while they've got a babe in their belly."

Olivia said stubbornly, kneeling down next to the tub. Before Liam could protest more, she added, "And I didn't. A girl from the village comes and helps me in the morning. She filled it for me, and after I bathed she emptied it and filled it again. I just heated it up with my Gift while you were eating."

"You actually let someone help you?" Liam asked, reaching for the washcloth and soap.

"Well, Sara is special. I grew fond of her. Her father is rather horrid, and her mother died when she was young, so I guess I felt for her. I wrote to you about her in my second letter. Didn't you get it?"

Liam shook his head. "I only got the first letter you sent."

"Oh, so that's why," Olivia trailed off.

"That's why what?" Liam asked.

Olivia shook her head. "I got letters from you, but they didn't say anything about what I'd written."

"What did you write to me about? Was it something important?" Liam asked, confused by the look on her face.

"I'll tell you later. Just get clean now, ohmi," Olivia said. "I'm going to go clean up the kitchen. There's a towel on that stool, and some clean clothes there."

"I have clean clothes?"

"I woke up early so I washed the clothes you had on when you came and the one's I found in your saddle bag. They've been hanging in the sun all day, so their dry now."

Liam smiled. "Well, don't you sound domestic, cooking and washing dishes and clothes."

Olivia splashed him lightly. "I like keeping busy. That's all. I'd prefer to do other things, but at least being domestic is something to do. Don't forget to wash behind your ears."

Liam laughed, watching as she carefully got back on to her feet. She put her hand on the back of her hip, supporting her extra weight. She wore a large tunic and breeches again, and her feet were bare. Her hair was pinned back in a simple bun, with a pieces curling slightly around her face. Once she'd left Liam began scrubbing all over. He winced while rubbing his arm and glanced over at his bicep. He'd scrubbed off a part of the scab on his arm accidentally. He ran his finger over his scab absentmindedly. Pila had done a good job on the stitches. His scar would be small, smaller then the scars on the people he'd left.

Alanna said Sandra would be okay. He hoped that would help Pila. She'd lost so much. All her friends and family, except Sandra. She'd made new ones among the survivors and the soldiers, but then lost most of them too. He'd have to talk to his father about letting women into the regular army. That's what Pila wanted, and she certainly deserved it. Still, he wasn't sure it would be safe. The Riders had always had both men and women, so men who didn't like female fighters didn't tend to join, and there were enough women there to watch each other's backs. He wasn't sure the enlisted men would take too kindly to having women in the army. Perhaps the Own. If Kel was to be Knight Commander, they should start letting women join anyways, and he knew Raoul wouldn't object. Pila didn't like horses though. Liam sighed and rubbed his forehead.

He wondered where they were, the men he had left. Maybe he shouldn't of left them. They'd been through a lot too. It was selfish of him to run off and abandon them. He should of at least stayed while they buried the dead. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Olivia had slipped into the room until he felt her hand on his cheek.

"Come back, ohmi," she said softly.

Liam smiled and turned his head, kissing her palm.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You've been in here forever, and when I came in you were just staring into space. You didn't even see me."

"I'm sorry. I was just wondering if I should have stayed and made sure the few survivors I had left were taken care of, seen to it that the bodies were buried."

"Come on, Liam. Get out of the bath. It's cold." She tugged at him and Liam obeyed, taking the towel she gave him and toweling off. "Now listen to me, Liam. You did your duty to your men. You saved as many as you could. You know they are safe now. When you get back to Corus, you'll see to it that the families of the dead are cared for as much as possible. I know what kind of man you are, Liam. Nothing could have made you leave if there was something duty bound you to do. Now, put your clothes on."

"Thank you," Liam said, taking the clothes she offered him and pulling them on. Once he was dressed, she hugged him, pulling him as close as her stomach would allow. Liam relaxed into her hold, wrapping his arms around her. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Come here. I have something for you." Olivia led Liam into the living room. She opened a draw in the oversized desk along one wall and pulled something out of it, then walked back over to Liam. "What I wrote in one of my letters is that I've decided something." She leaned against him, putting her head on his chest and opened her hand. Sitting in her hand was a modified cloddagh ring. In place of the traditional K'miri crown, was a Tortallan crown with two small swords through it. It was the Conte seal on a K'miri ring.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Will you marry me?" she asked.

Liam grinned and kissed her. "Of course I will. Of course. Of course," he said when he pulled back.

Olivia sighed with relief. "I was a little worried you would change your mind."

"Then you're a dolt. This pregnancy really has turned you upside down."

Olivia smacked him, and he grinned and kissed her again, pushing her back towards the bedroom. The pulled each other's clothes off quickly, laughing giddily. After they were finished, Liam reached onto the floor and picked up the ring. As he turned it over in his hand, Olivia kissed his shoulder and moved close to him.

"Our men wear them too, as wedding rings," she commented. "They don't usually wear them like women do, before they are wed, but after the often do."

"It's perfect," Liam replied. "It's a Conte cloddagh ring."

"I decided something else as well. I want our child to stay here with you. I'll stay a few months after she is born, but I'll have to go back to Saren, probably when she's about three months. I want her to stay with you. I'll miss her first words and her first steps either way in all likelihood. At least this way, you'll see them, and she'll be safely with you if I don't make it."

"You'll make it," Liam said, gripping her chin with his fingers. "You will survive, and I'll write you letters as soon as those things happen, and then you can come back and see everything else."

"Do you think she'll forgive me? For missing so much," Olivia asked, rubbing her stomach.

"I'm sure he will. You'll be there for the things he'll remember anyways."

Olivia laughed. "Whichever one of us is right will be unbearable for awhile while we gloat."

Liam kissed her temple. "Want to go get married today?"

"I was thinking tomorrow," Olivia replied evenly.

Liam looked down. "I was joking actually. You want to do this tomorrow?"

Olivia nodded. "I know the priestess in the village here. She's a good sort. She'll keep our secret. Unless, you wanted your family and friends around."

"No. The sooner the better. I've gone long enough with out having you as my wife. But we will need a witness. I'll bully Roald into saying he was our witness, and I know a Priestess in Corus that will say we were wed earlier. When would you like our wedding anniversary to officially be?"

"Our first day, or I suppose night together."

Liam frowned. "Are you sure? The same day as your mother's death?"

Olivia smiled. "It will remind me that some of the best things happened to me on that day as well as the worst. Perhaps it will help."

"Well if you are sure. We still need a witness for our actual wedding though."

"Sara can be our witness, and she's loyal to me. She won't tell a soul the truth. I want to bring her back with me to nanny our daughter."

"Can I meet her before we decide on this?" Liam asked. "Or have you already decided on everything?"

"Of course. If you don't like her enough to nanny, she can still be my personal maid."

"There he goes again with the kicking. Our boy."

"Girl."

"What are we going to name this child of ours?"

"I'd like to name her after my mother."

"You know I don't think you ever told me her name," Liam said.

"Leilah," Olivia replied.

"Princess Leilah. I like it. And if he's a boy, perhaps we should name him Jonathan in an attempt to appease my father."

"Sounds good. It won't be a boy though."

"You are impossible. Now what are we going to do now."

Olivia looked outside. "The sun is already down. Are you even going to be able to sleep when we are supposed since you slept so late?"

Liam yawned. "Honestly, I'm still exhausted. I do this, by the way. It's something you should probably know about me if we are going to be married. When I come back from some sort of battle or something, I often sleep for days. I can go for a long time with little sleep, but then when I do finally manage to sleep I just don't stop."

"So, basically you're too lazy to get out of bed or get dressed again," Olivia said with a grin.

Liam wrapped his arms and legs around her, pinning her to him. "That's right. And you aren't going anywhere either. I can stay awake for a bit longer though, since I'm guessing this is a little earlier then you usually go to sleep."

"Any ideas as to what we can do in bed that isn't that thing we do all the time."

"No. What do you usually do around now?"

Well, don't laugh," Olivia said sheepishly, "but I've taken to reading out loud, to the baby."

"You read to the baby? Does it even have ears yet?" Liam demanded, inspecting her stomach suspiciously.

"I don't know how it started. It just did, alright? And when she's kicking me when I want to sleep it does seem to sooth her. I'm in the middle of a biography of your great-grandfather, King Jasson actually. I thought it and I would do well to learn the family history. We can start something else though."

"No, no. Your terrifying grandmother insisted I was just like King Jasson, maybe this way I can tell her all the ways that makes me amazing when I see her again."

"I suspect your Nana was referring to all the mistresses King Jasson had, but he was a fairly good general, brutal in his way, but logical. I'm in the middle of his conquer of the Bazhir."

Liam kissed Olivia. "I can tell you absolutely that we will not have the mistress part in common. You are more than enough woman for any one man to handle."

"As if you could even begin to handle me," Olivia retorted.

Liam laughed. "True enough. Go ahead and read away."

Olivia sat up and re-arranged the pillows, manhandling Liam into the position she wanted him in. Finally, she leaned back against his chest, settling between his legs. She grumbled and partially bent his knees.

"What are you doing?" Liam demanded as she moved his legs.

She lay back down against his chest and settled her arms on his thighs. "Making armrests," she said brightly, opening the large book that had been sitting next to her bed.

"Did you just turn me into furniture?"

Olivia looked up at him and grinned. "Yes, don't you feel honored?"

Liam snorted. "You should be honored, oh pregnant one, that I allow you to rest yourself on my throne-like self."

"I think you're more like a slightly worn wooden chair then a throne," Olivia said thoughtfully. "You're familiar and comfortable in an odd, hard sort of way."

"You're lucky you're cute," Liam grumbled, before craning his neck to give Olivia a kiss.

She smiled in reply and began to read from the book. Liam quickly began drifting in and out of wakefulness as she read. By the time King Jasson had conquered the Bazhir, Liam was already fast asleep.

When he woke the next morning, he was still in the same position, though Olivia had turned on her side and burrowed into him in her sleep. She was shivering slightly, and Liam reached down and pulled the down-filled blanket up and tucked it around her. She stirred slightly and looked up at him. "Hey you," she whispered, giving him a lazy smile.

"Hey you," he replied, stroking her hair softly.

She slid upward and kissed him softly. "Come on let's get some breakfast. Sara's already here. I can smell the bacon cooking."

"Then we'll get married."

Olivia smiled again. "Yes, Liam. Then we'll get married."

She got up and tugged on some breeches and a shirt, tossing him black breeches and the nicest of the tunics he had with him.

"Are you going to wear that to get married in?" Liam asked as he got out of bed and pulled the clothes on.

"Of course not. This is my wedding day breakfasting outfit. Not my bridal outfit," Olivia said haughtily, sticking her nose in the air and doing a spot on imitation of her sister's intonation.

Liam laughed. "Goddess, I'm glad I didn't marry her. I really thought it wouldn't matter at all. I figured I'd spend my time fighting and only have to see her now and then. I had no idea what I would have been missing, or what I would have been forced to live with."

"Come meet Sara," Olivia said. "I'm hungry, and I want my breakfast."

Liam followed Olivia obediently into the kitchen, where a small young woman, muscled from years of farm labor, turned bacon on the stove. She curtsied low when she saw Liam, blushing slightly and smoothing her apron down.

"Liam, this is Sara. Sara, Liam."

"It's a pleasure to meet someone that Olivia was actually willing to accept help from, Sara," Liam said, curious to see if she looked up at him. "Thank you for helping her these past few months."

To his surprise, she did look up and meet his eyes squarely. "It's been an honor to serve her, your highness," she said stiffly. "If you wish to sit at the table, I will bring breakfast to you in a moment."

Liam and Olivia both sat, chatting amiably as Sara finished up cooking and brought them their food.

"Sara, sit down and have some breakfast. You've been eating with me for weeks," Olivia said, when Sara moved to take her plate outside.

"But mistress, it would not be proper for me to eat with royalty. And I now who you are, your highness. I saw you when you went with your father on his tour of Tortall a few years past." Sara frowned slightly as she spoke, hovering next to Olivia and looking rather annoyed at Liam's presence.

"Sara, you've been eating with royalty for the last few weeks," Olivia said impatiently.

As Sara gawked at her, Liam said, "Actually, love, you are technically not a princess. You've been disowned."

"Well, fine, Sara you've been eating with a former Princess of Saren and a future Princess of Tortall, which is almost the same thing.

"You mean to marry then?" Sara asked eagerly.

"We are to be wed today," Liam replied. "Olivia was hoping you'd be our witness."

"Well, that's quite lovely isn't it," Sara said, her voice warm as she brought her own plate over and sat down with them.

Liam laughed. "You weren't refusing to sit with us because I'm a prince. You were refusing to sit with us because you thought I was taking advantage of her, weren't you?"

Sara blushed slightly as Olivia giggled.

Liam glared at Olivia. "Why is it that people always assume I'm the one taking advantage?" He turned to Sara and said, "I'll have you know that I wanted to marry her long ago, and she kept refusing me, even after she got pregnant. If anything, she took advantage of me."

"It was a great blight on your virginal honor, I'm sure," Olivia said mildly, causing Sara to giggle into her napkin.

"When are you going to the temple?" Sara asked.

Olivia shrugged. "Soon, I suppose. We can go down after breakfast. I'll change first, and then we can go down."

"You can't go down together," Sara said, scandalized. "Why that will ruin the whole thing! It's terrible luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress."

Liam was about to protest, but Olivia waved him off. "She's right. We should do this right. You can go to the temple first and arrange things with the priestess, and Sara can help me get ready. We'll come meet you at the temple. It should take but a bell's time."

"Alright," he said. He quickly ate the last of his food, then stood, getting directions to the temple in town before he left. He decided to walk to town, knowing he'd be antsy if he had to wait too long for her. Before he left, he stopped to rifle through his saddlebags, pulling out the cloddagh ring he'd bought for Olivia all those months ago. He honestly hadn't believed that she would marry him, at least not before she left for Saren. Now, today, he was getting a family. A wife and a child. Their daughter. In truth, he though Olivia was right. Alanna said most women with a healing gift instinctually knew the gender of their baby. He liked to tease her, but whenever he pictured the child, he always held a little girl. She had a big smile and a loud, happy laugh. Now, thanks to Olivia, he'd have her. A beautiful little girl.

He made arrangements with the Priestess quickly. She was a stern sort, but Liam thought Olivia was right, she'd keep their secret for them. Liam sat by the Goddess' alter, tapping his fingers on his knees as he waited.

At last the doors open, and Sara came through. Liam stood as Sara moved to stand near the alter. Then, she walked in, and Liam nearly lost his breath. She wore an elongated K'miri style dress, much like the one she'd worn the day she'd been presented at court, though it was white and extra fabric draped across her stomach. Pearls lined below her bust and provided decoration for the simple white slippers she wore on her feet. A string of pearls across her neck and one in each ear completed the look, and her hair fell in waves down her back and a wreath of flowers crowned her head. She smiled as she walked up to the alter and took his hand. The ceremony was short and simple, with none of the grandiose of a typical royal wedding. They slipped their rings on each other's fingers at the end, and Liam gave her chaste kiss, and it was done. They were wed. Sara stayed behind as the two walked out of the temple.

"My wife," Liam whispered, kissing her hair.

"That's right, ohmi. There's no getting rid of me now."

"As if I'd ever want to."

They never saw the attack coming. Liam hadn't even brought his sword. Six armed men had little trouble with the two of them, and before Liam had even completely taken stock of the situation, two of them held him and a third had Olivia down on her knees, his knife out and aimed to plunge straight into her belly.

-------

Longest one I've done in awhile, but I couldn't really see a good place to break it. Hope you liked it.....and you aren't too mad about the cliffy. Sadly, I'm going on vacation laptop free for a week, but as soon as I come bak I'll try to write the next chapter as quick as possible so you won't have to wait too long. Review!


	39. Chapter 39

Olivia watched the knife come down and turned at the last second, throwing all of her weight away from the knife. His knife still caught her, sinking into her right above her hip bone. Liam shifted his weight and pulled, able to shake one of his captors who'd been distracted by Olivia's movement. He threw a punch deep into the second man's stomach, hitting him in the kidney hard enough to make the man go down. He tackled the assassin who held Olivia, forcing him to let go of her. He lost his balance in the struggle and the bigger man ended up on top of him, still holding the knife. Dimly, he heard Olivia calling for help as he watched the man's knife, but rather than kill Liam, he hesitated, giving Liam time to knock the man off of him. He grabbed a knife from the man's boot, earning himself a kick in the face. Liam stumbled to his feet, moving over to stand over Olivia. The five attackers still standing stood and formed a circle around them, warily watching Liam, but seeming unwilling to come at him. Voices and running steps came down the street, and the man who'd held Olivia jerked his head. They all went running, two of the men pausing to help up their fallen friend before some of the villagers arrived, Sara at the front.

"Milady," Sara gasped, kneeling down next to Olivia.

Liam did the same, reaching for the small reserve of Gift he'd managed to reclaim over the past weeks to slow the bleeding. The stab was deep and had scrapped her hip bone. Liam healed her as much as he could, but there was still sluggish bleeding left when his Gift was tapped out. He ripped a piece of his tunic, bandaging her. Just as he was finishing, Olivia gasped in pain and doubled over.

"What's wrong?" Liam demanded.

"It's the baby. It's trying to come now," Olivia gasped out.

Liam paled slightly. "Sara, go to the Swoop as fast as you can. Tell Sir Alanna what's happened. If anyone tries to stop you, just say you are acting on orders from Prince Liam."

"But," Sara hesitated, clearly unwilling to leave Olivia.

"Go," Liam said harshly. "I'll get her to the Temple. Now move."

Sara took off running. Liam and one of the village men carefully helped Olivia up, leading her slowly to the Temple. Once there, the Priestess directed them to a comfortable bed. Liam helped Olivia lay back on it, propping up the pillows.

He turned to the Priestess, speaking quietly so Olivia couldn't hear her. "Do you have a healer or a midwife here?"

The Priestess shook her head. "We had a midwife, but she died a few months back. Olivia has been helping with any healing needed in town, since a new one hasn't appeared to take her place yet."

Liam blew a deep breath out. "I don't suppose you know anything about stopping labor? It is not the sort of thing a healer of soldiers is usually taught."

The Priestess shook her head again. "But your lass will know. She's as good a midwife as I've ever seen."

Liam nodded, then walked over and sat on Olivia's bed. He began to speak when she bit her lip, gripping his hand tightly. Once the contraction had passed, Liam said, "What do I need to do?"

Olivia breathed slowly, her eyelids drooping slightly. "You are tapped out aren't you?"

"I have some left," Liam replied.

Olivia smiled, forcing her eyes open. "Liar. You would have stopped the bleeding if you had anything to spare. It takes a lot of Gift to stop contractions anyways. Most healing is returning the body to its natural state, so there's some ease to it. Stopping this is stopping a natural movement, so it takes a great deal of power."

"There has to be something I can do."

"You can. I have to stay calm, keep my breathing regular, and I may be able to use my Gift to help me relax my body. If I can relax it, perhaps the baby won't be too far along when Alanna arrives."

"There are a lot of ifs and perhapses in that statement."

"Not helping," Olivia said tightly.

Liam let out a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. He forced himself to relax, pushing back his fears before he opened them again. "Alright," he said, rolling up his sleeves. "We can do this."

He turned to the Priestess. "Can you have a few of the better fighters in the village stand watch over the temple? Obviously, we will compensate them for their time. Could you also send someone to the cottage? Have them bring my sword, the book next to the bed and one of Olivia's oversized shirts. I also need bandages and any cleaning solution for wounds that you have, or just hot water."

The priestess nodded and left the room to do as he'd asked. Liam sat on the bed, reaching down to pull of his boots and socks. He held her hand through another contraction before the priestess returned with bandages, swabs and a jar of vile smelling liquid.

He removed the other bandage and carefully cleaned her wound, then re-bandaged it. Once he'd finished, she managed a smile. "Well done, commander," she said quietly. "I knew I could count on you to be rational for me."

Liam smiled back at her, stroking her face. He leaned forward and gently kissed her. "Can you explain what's going on and still stay calm and rational?" he asked teasingly.

"I've gone into labor due to the physical and emotional stress of what just occurred."

"Yes darling, I did get that part."

"Well, its too early. The baby won't survive if she's born now. Right now, my contractions are fairly far apart, which is good. If they get to close together, then Alanna won't be able to do anything."

"And if you stay relaxed, it could help keep the contractions apart," Liam said.

"Along with a little help from my Gift."

"Alright, we can do this," Liam said. He climbed onto the bed and arranged himself behind her, so she could lean back against him. As she settled back against him, she grimaced and gripped his hands. By the time the contraction had stopped, his hands were throbbing. He kissed her neck gently. "You're doing great."

A gentle knock at the door came, and the Priestess walked in carrying the items Liam had asked for. She handed them to him and then left them alone once she was assured that she could do no more to help. Liam leaned his sword against the bed in easy reach before he carefully undressed Olivia and helped her into the large shirt. Once she'd settled back against him, he pulled a blanket up and over her and then began reading, keeping his voice steady and low even through Olivia's contractions. After the fifth one, he paused. "They're getting closer together, aren't they," he said quietly.

Olivia nodded, her teeth gritted and her face sweaty. "Too close," she said hoarsely.

"Let me use some of my Gift," Liam said.

"No," Olivia replied. "You've got naught but life source left."

"I can't lose you," Liam said, desperation creeping into his voice.

"You won't," Olivia said sadly. "The baby perhaps, but not me."

"I can't lose either of you."

"And I can't lose you, which is what will happen if you try and help. I'll lose both of you. Now stop you are making me stressed."

Olivia bit her lip and closed her eyes. "Keep reading," she demanded, and Liam stopped himself from fighting her some more and resumed reading.

Two more contractions later, the door opened, and Alanna and George walked in. Alanna looked furious, but she walked over to her cousin quickly and began pouring her Gift into Olivia without asking any questions. A few minutes later she stopped and sighed. "I've eased them, but we will have to wait for a contraction or two to come and then I'll be able to stop them while they're happening, which will stop them completely."

"Is the baby alright?" Olivia demanded, sitting up slightly.

"Yes, for now the baby is fine," Alanna replied. "You did a good job. I know it doesn't feel like it, but labor has hardly even started. It's a long process, especially with the first one, and you managed to slow it good and well."

"Will I have to be on bed rest?" Olivia asked.

Alanna shook her head. "I don't think so. You'll need to be fairly careful for the next week or two, and after that I wouldn't suggest riding a horse a long ways, but other than that you'll be fine."

Olivia sighed in relief and leaned back again.

"Will you look at the cut on her side?" Liam asked. "I didn't have enough of my Gift left to heal it all the way."

Alanna lifted Olivia's shirt and peeled off the bandage. She finished the healing on the cut quickly. They waited a few moments and another contraction came. Olivia gripped Liam's hands, but relaxed quickly as Alanna used her Gift. They repeated this again on the next contraction, and then waited. When nearly half a bell's time had passed and another contraction had not occurred, Alanna smiled. "All taken care of."

"Thank you," Olivia said sleepily, her eyelids already heavy. Liam climbed out from behind her and rearranged the pillows, tucking the blankets around her once she'd settled down. By the time he'd finished, she was already asleep.

Alanna jerked her head towards the door, and Liam and George dutifully followed. Once they were safely outside, Alanna snapped, "I don't know where to start."

"You, how could you not have told me about this?" she asked, pointing at George. "I thought you'd agreed not to keep secrets to protect me."

"This wasn't my secret to tell, lass. Besides, I wasn't protecting you. I was protecting this one. The last thing he needed was an earful from you the whole way to Scanra," George said calmly.

Alanna frowned, but turned and looked at Liam. "How could you let this happen?"

"They came out of nowhere," Liam said. "Believe me, I'm hitting myself for leaving without a sword, but we were getting married. I was hardly thinking about weapons."

"I meant how did you get her preg—marrried?!"

"Yes, we just got married. The whole thing is arranged such that we will be able to tell people we got married many months ago and kept it secret because of the treaty negotiations. As for the pregnancy, I didn't notice she wasn't wearing a charm the first time, and she wasn't exactly in an emotional mindset to remember herself."

Alanna sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. "Fine. Do you want me to tell your father?'

Liam shook his head. "I'll tell him. He did give me permission. I'm sure he would have preferred we were married before the court when she wasn't pregnant, but there's not much to be done about that."

"Do you know anything about who attacked you?" George asked.

Liam shrugged. "I didn't recognize them, and they all got away. There were six of them. They were after Olivia though, not me. I think they had orders not to hurt me."

"So, agents paid by Saren no doubt. They have the biggest incentive," George growled, leaning against the wall and drumming his fingers on his leg. "I'm fairly certain Kendra had a spy at the Swoop when she was here. I think he actually managed to sneak around and get a layout of the place before she even got here. I had word of a dark-haired man wandering around right before we got word about Scanra, but with the Scanra situation I didn't have time to track him down. Then, Kendra shows up with that dark-haired, grey-eyed servant of hers who kept ending up in places he wasn't supposed to be. I'm sure it was the same man. I kept him running in circles, but he may have found out where Olivia was staying before that. I hate it when there are spies in my house."

"I ran into him once," Liam said, recognizing the description instantly. "He was near my rooms. Gods curse it I didn't even think of it. We'll have to keep guards with her. They'll try again."

"Presenting her at court as your wife is probably the best way to keep her safe," George said. "How long until she'll be well enough for the trip?"

Alanna shrugged. "We can move her to the Swoop tomorrow. We'll need to get the carriage out because she shouldn't ride horseback at all for a week or two. After about two weeks, she'll be ready for the trip to Corus, though again in the carriage."

"Do you even have a carriage?" Liam asked, amused.

"We do actually. Unless you got rid of it," Alanna replied, looking at her husband.

"It's still in the back of the stable. I have no idea what kind of shape its in."

"We can figure it out," Liam said. "She won't be happy. She hates carriage rides."

"Who doesn't," Alanna replied wryly. "You can be the one to break the news to her. I'm exhausted and am going to go sleep now. Hopefully, that Priestess has another bed around."

---

Originally, I was going to have the attack occur before the wedding, the baby die and Olivia run off to Saren, but I just couldn't do it to them. The poor things have been through way too much already. Besides, I was worried it was too like my other story where Kally lost the baby. Well, hope you liked it. Review!


	40. Chapter 40

Liam couldn't help but smile at the look on his wife's face. He could guess what she looked like as a small child when she was forced to go to her room. He reached across the carriage and squeezed her hand. "We're almost to Corus now, sweet."

Olivia sighed. "I know. I just hate carriages. It's like riding in a cage."

Liam switched sides, squeezing in next to Olivia on her bench. "There are some advantages you know," he said quietly, leaning forward and kissing her softly.

Olivia giggled. "Riding a horse is so fun though. Do you really think the advantages can outweigh the wonder that is riding fast down an open road on a good horse?"

"Most definitely," Liam said, kissing her again.

"I'm not so sure. You may have to convince me."

Liam laughed aloud and pulled her close. "I think I can do that," he replied before kissing her again and letting his fingertips skate down her face, neck and chest.

The sun had set by the time the carriage came to a stop, causing both of them to stir as the coachman spoke to guards.

"See the time went by as quick as a flash," Liam said teasingly as the coach lurched forward again.

Olivia opened her eyes slowly. "What's going on?" she mumbled.

"You fell asleep," Liam said. "While I was kissing you."

"I'm pregnant," Olivia said grumpily.

"And adorable," Liam added, stroking her hair. "Come on. Let's get you to bed."

As the coach stopped again, Liam helped Olivia sit up slowly. The footman came and opened the door, and Liam got out first, turning immediately to help Olivia. Carefully, Olivia eased her way out of the carriage and down the steps, gripping Liam's hand for balance. Over the last month, the baby had grown quickly, leading Olivia to moan that she not only could no longer see her feet, but also had come to believe that they no longer existed.

They turned around, only to realize that Liam's whole extended and adopted family was assembled before them. Thayet walked forward first, reaching out and hugging Olivia warmly to her. To Liam's surprise, Jon gripped him in a tight hug, clapping him on the back. "Well done and thank you," he said quietly. "I know how hard that must have been, but you saved Tortall from famine and a long war."

Involuntarily, Liam looked at Olivia, who was being hugged by a long line of people, and then back at his father. Jon grinned. "Well done on that too. Perhaps _well_ done is a bit strong, but it shouldn't be a problem. People will talk of course, but the whole story you have plotted out lines up pretty well. I suspect it will be romanticized enough that she'll become quite popular in the end."

"I—thank you," Liam finally settled on saying. "I should go rescue her. She's hardly slept at all while we've been on the road. She finally slept some in the carriage, but she's still exhausted."

Jon smiled and looked at his son fondly. "You know, I really never thought you would ever allow yourself to love someone."

"I'm not sure I ever had a choice," Liam said wryly, smiling back at his father before he made his way over to Olivia. He extracted her from a mob of hugs and put his hand on her lower back. "Do you want to go to sleep?" he whispered into her ear.

"Yes, please," Olivia said, sounding almost pitiful.

Liam laughed, then said loudly, "Alright, everyone, we've had a very long carriage ride here, and we'd like to go to bed. I promise at the ball tomorrow you'll have plenty of time to say hello and berate me and give hugs and welcome the newest members of the family or whatever else you wish to do."

He guided her up to the castle and through the hallways to his rooms. Once they were in the bedroom, he sat her down on the bed and helped her out of her clothes.

"I should make sure all our things get brought here," she said tiredly.

"Don't be ridiculous, sweet. You can barely stand you're so tired. Sara can take care of all of it."

"But I don't have anything to sleep in."

"Well, I suppose you'll just have to sleep without clothes on," Liam said. "It will be a trial, but I think we can both bear it, don't you?"

Olivia smiled. "I love you, so very much."

"I love you, too. Now in bed with you." Liam helped arrange the pillows so Olivia was half-sitting, half-laying on her back, then moved away to take off his own clothes. By the time he'd slid under the blankets, she was already asleep. He settled down on his side to sleep next to her, placing a hand protectively on her stomach before he drifted off. They slept until midday, both tired after many sleepless nights on the road in which Olivia had tossed and turned in an attempt to make herself comfortable in unfamiliar beds. Liam woke first, when the sun crept through the crack in his curtains and hit him full in the face. He opened his eyes slowly, kissing Olivia's neck instinctively as he woke. She murmured, reaching over to touch his face lightly without really waking up.

"Time to wake up," he said quietly.

"Not yet, ohmi," she mumbled.

Liam smiled, then kissed her again. He kissed slowly all over her face until she shoved him away. "It's midday," he finally said.

"What?!" she exclaimed, sitting up. "Midday! There's so much to do. We have to unpack and I have to get ready to be presented and make sure I can actually fit into the dress I am supposed to wear since I now weigh Goddess only knows how much more then when I first gave your mother my measurements."

"Relax. Let's start with clothes and food," Liam said evenly. He slid out of bed and pulled on some clothes. "Then, I'll go find mother, and she can get everything arranged."

Olivia scowled. "I don't have any clothes," she said. "I don't know where my trunks are."

A sharp rap at the door stopped Liam from replying. He opened the door to reveal Sara.

"Oh good, you are up. I've brought Mist—Princess Olivia some clothes from her trunk," she said, bobbing a quick curtsey.

Liam smiled. "Thank you. Did you get settled alright?"

Sara nodded. "Yes, your highness. It was no problem at all. Your manservant showed me around and got me settled. Would you like some food as well?"

"Have some brought up for Olivia. I'm going to head in to find my mother and send her to help with arrangements for the ball and trunks and all of that. I believe Olivia is being given her room from before to do with as she wishes, but I need to check. For now, you can have her things brought here. They can go in my study as well if there isn't room."

"Yes, your highness," Sara said, walking in as Liam left.

Liam walked through the hallways to his parents' rooms. He found his mother quickly, and she sent him off to the tailor's to have his new clothes fitted before heading to his room to help Olivia. After going to the tailor's he headed back to his rooms, hoping to talking to Olivia would alleviate some of the dread he felt whenever he thought about this evening, but he backed out quickly when he saw the flurry off activity of servants as well as an alarming number of his female family members. He trudged off to find his brother, convincing Roald to go for a ride with him. After the two got back and bathed, he picked up his clothes from the tailor and decided to check and see if he could get into his rooms this time around.

To his surprise, he found his front room empty. He headed to the bedroom, and smiled as he saw Olivia standing before the mirror, adjusting her tiara. She turned and smiled shyly at him, fidgeting slightly as he looked over her blue dress, a particularly dark hue to signal the court's mourning over those lost in the war. The top part was an off the shoulders v-neck that crossed in front before meeting a band of silveer decorated with emeralds and diamonds before the blue satin fabric fell elegantly over her stomach to the floor and extended out behind her in a long train. She wore her own jewelry for the most part, including the silver bangle bracelets of hers that he'd always loved for the jingling sound they made at her slightest movement, but at her neck was a new necklace featuring a large sapphire surrounded by small diamonds. Recognizing her frequent touching of her necklace and bracelets as an indication of the nerves she'd experienced throughout most of her pregnancy, he walked over and kissed her gently.

"You look lovely," he said. "As always."

Olivia smiled. "Thank you."

"It's funny how this pregnancy has changed you," Liam said wryly. "I never had to reassure you on your looks before."

"I weighed a lot less before," Olivia retorted. "Honestly, though I suppose I always had these feelings. Everyone does. Are they judging me? Do I look awful? But really, I usually didn't care what almost anyone thought of me, before I met you. And, even if I did think those things I was careful to be sure no one else noticed that weakness. I don't have to be that way with you. So perhaps it's not just the pregnancy. Perhaps it's at least partly you."

"Well, I'm flattered, but I also always think you're beautiful, so I don't think you really need to worry about that," Liam said before kissing her firmly again.

Olivia kissed his back, sinking into the moment and wrapping her arms around his neck. The bells rang, drawing them out of the moment. Olivia grinned and swatted him, saying, "More of that later. For now, get dressed or we'll be late."

Liam obeyed, pulling his shirt over his head as he asked, "Where is everyone?"

"I sent them away. I thought you might want a moment of peace and quiet before we head out to be presented," Olivia replied, sitting on the bed. She examined him quietly as he dressed, then once he'd finished said, "Are you alright? You look a little tense."

Liam shrugged, then sighed. "I just don't want to do this. Idiot courtiers will vacillate between saying incredibly offensive things about you, and asking me to tell them the story of my _heroics_," Liam said, spitting the last word out bitterly. "I don't know if I can face either of those things."

Olivia reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently. "I'll be there with you the whole time, and you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm very, very good at changing the subject, politely or nastily depending on which is appropriate. Does that help at all?"

Liam smiled. "It does, actually. It's silly, but I almost forget that you can stand next to me the whole night and no one can say naught about it."

"That's right. It's one of the perks of making me an honest woman. Also, your mother told me that the whole Saren delegation has left, so we don't have to deal with any of them."

"Really? I didn't know that. How did she manage that?"

"Apparently, she simply told Kendra and her mother exactly what she thought of both of them. That was enough to make them pack up and leave, so they won't get the news of our marriage for a few more weeks, unless their spies found out. Now, we should go. Are you ready?"

"Yes. Are you ready to formally become Princess of Tortall, your highness?" he asked, offering her his arm.

Olivia grinned and placed her hand daintily on the offered arm. "Absolutely."

---

Sorry this is dragging a bit again. As usual I have trouble getting around to the important parts of the story. Note to self: Work on pacing. I don't suppose anyone has tricks of the trade they'd like to share on that one?


	41. Chapter 41

"Prince Liam of Tortall, and his wife, Princess Olivia of Tortall, former Princess of Saren." At the herald's words, murmurs went up among the courtiers, who had been given no information about the marriage before this event. The whispers only increased when the two appeared at the top of the stairs and Olivia's full belly was revealed. Liam glanced at Olivia briefly, pleased to see that she only had a small graceful smile on her face, as though she couldn't hear anything that was being said.

She descended slowly, her hand light on his arm, and when they reached the throne, she curtsied as he bowed.

Jonathan stood and said, "Prince Liam, it is a pleasure to have you back from this war. You have done the crown and all of Tortall proud, and we are pleased to welcome your wife to court."

Thayet then stood and added, "Welcome home, Prince Liam and welcome to your new home Princess Olivia. It is a pleasure and an honor to have a sister K'mir join our family. Please take your new seat."

Liam bowed and Olivia curtsied once more before the two sat in the two chairs to the King and Queen's left. As they sat, the hearld announced the official date of their marriage and the expected date of their child's birth. Once the herald had finished, clapping erupted to his left along with a loud wolf-whistle. Liam looked over and smiled as he saw his group of surviving soldiers, who were honored with purses and personal thanks from their Majesties before he had been presented. Pila was practically jumping up and down as she clapped, and his men and Sandra looked astonished and pleased. The rest of the room slowly followed the example of his men and women, and soon loud cheers erupted from those he counted as his friends and many members of the Own that he had fought with, as well as his family and hers.

Olivia glanced at Jon, and he nodded, giving her permission before she stood and smiled as the cheers quieted. "Thank you for your kind welcome," she said, easily pitching her voice so that even though it sounded even and warm, no one in the room could miss her words. "Tortall has become home to me in a way Saren never could, and though for political reasons his highness and I were forced to keep our marriage a secret these many months, please know that I am very proud to serve this great country of yours in any way that I can. I have so much to learn about Tortall and what I can do for it, and I hope you all will be my teachers. And I would like to extend a special thanks to the men and women who served with my lord in Scanra these past months, both under his command and elsewhere on the boarder. I know that without your efforts and sacrifices, not only would this country have suffered greatly, but that my husband quite possibly would never have returned."

This time as she sat, nearly every person in the room joined in with the claps and cheers, though Liam noticed to his amusement a few of his former lovers looked decidedly put out.

The musicians began playing shortly thereafter, and the courtiers began to dance. A page came over with a glass of wine for Liam and juice for Olivia. The lanky red-headed looked nervous, but he managed to perform his duty without any spilling.

Liam took Olivia's hand and kissed it, smiling. "It really is torture to make the pages wait on us. The poor things always look terrified. I want to go talk to my soldiers. Will you come with me?"

"Can't you beckon them over here? Once I get out of this chair, I just know I won't get to sit for the rest of the evening and my back has been hurting all day."

Liam laughed and then turned, beckoning Pila and the others over. Liam introduced all of them to her, and Olivia smiled graciously at them.

"It's lovely to meet all of you. Especially you, Pila. I understand you took over nagging my lord for me while he was over there. Doubtless he tried to insist the he doesn't need to eat, or sleep, or heal or wear warm clothing."

Pila grinned. "Aye, your highness. You aren't wrong. 'Tis a pleasure to meet you as well. His highness told me much about you. I'd expected him to be exaggeratin' about how wonderful and lovely you are as men are apt to do, but I see that he spoke the truth."

Olivia laughed. "As gallant as the best of courtiers, aren't you?"

"You knew about her?" one of the men blurted out before Pila could reply.

Pila winked at them, then said quite loudly so the courtiers nearby could hear as well, "But of course. I know the scent of a newlywed when I smell one, and I was able to cheer him up just by getting him to talk to me about her. You louts wouldn't notice a man was married if he bruised you with the wedding ring when he smacked you upside the head. Takes a woman's intuition to know that sort of thing."

"How are you all doing?" Liam asked when the laughter had died down, his voice low. "The truth now. Is there anything I can do for any of you?"

"Or I," Olivia said. "I meant what I said. I owe you a great debt."

Pila looked around at the men, then finally replied, "I know for me at least, and I think for the others that weren't regular army but recruited, well, we are wonderin' what we should do, your highness. The regular army boys can just stay in, but the rest of us, well we don't know quite what to do with ourselves. Should we go home? Do you know what's happening on the fief?"

Liam sighed. "We just found the eldest daughter. She has agreed to take over the fief, but it turns out it was almost bankrupt before this began. The crown has given her some money, and loaned her more, but she's going to have to begin the farming on her fief at a much smaller scale. She has begun some of the work already, mainly using refugees from the other fiefs. Many of the fiefs up there were burned, but we'd gotten the people out, so there's more people up there now then usable farmland. If you want plots from her, I can absolutely do that for you. She'll want you up North soon though. I can set you up with work at other fiefs as well, or with other work here in Corus. The men are also welcome in the army, and all of you are welcome in the Riders, as well as the Own. Sir Raoul has indicated that he'd be willing to take female recruits at this point. I have reservations about putting you in the army, Pila. I may be able to force the point, but I'm not sure you'd be accepted or safe. Also, those of you who are regular army, if you want out of your contracts I would be happy to do that and help you get other work. There's no shame in that. You've done your duty by Tortall already."

Liam worked out the particulars with several of them, agreeing to get some of them job's as castle guard, others back on the farm and recommend one for carpentry work in Corus. Pila grudgingly agreed to work with the Riders, admitting that she'd never been on a horse, so it was possible she'd like it more than she thought.

"Sandra, what about you?" Liam asked once he'd finished speaking to the rest of the group.

"Honestly, your highness, I don't want to fight anymore. I was training to be a lady's maid at the fief, and I think I'd like the work if I had a decent mistress," she replied.

Liam frowned thinking over his options, when Olivia said, "Well, you can come work for me. I need a lady's maid and having one who can use a weapon will be of use. My maid, Sara, will become the nanny once the child is born. Would that be agreeable to you?"

Sandra gulped, but nodded enthusiastically.

"Is there anything else I can do for any of you? If not, please know you can come see me whenever, about anything, even if it's just to talk. If I'm not here, you can come speak to my lady. She's completely capable of doing anything for you I could. Now off with you. I know you are all planning to sneak out as soon as possible and drink with the Own. Here the first two rounds are on me," Liam said, handing a silver noble to Pila.

The group thanked him and demanded he come out to meet them for a drink after the ball before they began trickling out, but Pila stayed behind for a moment, "Your highness, I hate to burden you, but I'm worried about Jayseb. He's canoodling with my cousin, and she says he hollers in his sleep and he even hit her once while in the grip of one of his nightmares. He also just seems sad. He's dwelled on it more then the rest of us."

Liam nodded. "Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure to talk to him soon, just of the two of us. Keep an eye on him in the meantime if you can."

"Thank you, highness. It was very nice to meet you as well, Princess Olivia."

After they'd left, most of the courtiers came by to greet the new princess and congratulate his highness. They managed to get through for awhile without a hiccup, until Lord Renald, the red-faced conservative who'd been the driving force behind the House of Lords refusal to fund soldier training came forward, came to greet them along with his wife, Lady Jessera.

After they went through the formalities, Lord Renald boomed, "See, highness. I told you we'd be just fine in war without training soldiers. We got plenty of commoners to send at any army that comes our way."

Before Liam could reply, Olivia said smoothly, "Lord Renald, please. My lord has taken the loss of the men and women of his command hard, and he feels the loss could have been lessened by the training he advocated for, and let us not forget that nobles were killed too during this war, something that might have been prevented if they'd been willing to train more of the people in their area to defend their fiefs. But of course, what is done is done, and cannot be undone, and really who wants to talk about war at a lovely party like this. Lady Jessera, it is you I have seen with those lovely little dogs, is it not? We don't have any with fur quite so luxurious in Saren. What kind are they? Do you breed them yourself?"

Gleefully, Lady Jessera began talking of her favorite subject at length. At last the couple moved on, and Olivia said, "Shall we get up now so we can scurry away next time instead of getting cornered?"

Liam laughed and nodded, standing up and offering her a hand to help her up. He led her over to Roald and some of his knight friends. "Do you really like her dogs?" Liam asked, failing to keep the alarm out of his voice.

"Those are not dogs," Olivia said, her voice dripping with disdain. "They are rats with fluffy wigs."

"Thank, Mithros. I may have had to look into ways to rid myself of you if you wanted one of those creatures," Liam said fervently.

"I thought there was nothing I could do that would make you want to get rid of me," Olivia said, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"But there are things your pets could do."

"No, I prefer my dogs like I like my men, large and obedient."

Liam threw his head back and laughed out loud in surprise. "Do you have dogs in Saren?"

"I do. Two black Labradors. They're good, big, obedient lads the pair of them."

"Do you like me as much as you like them?" Liam asked as they neared the other group.

"Almost. Once I have you completely trained, I am sure I'll like you best," Olivia said, reaching up to touch his cheek fondly.

"Have you enjoyed your second introduction to the court, your highness?" Roald asked, smiling at Olivia warmly.

"You know it hasn't been so bad, your highness. People are much more accepting then I was expecting actually."

"We are pleased to have you," Roald said. "Especially given the influence you seem to have on my brother. It's good to have him laughing, and even better, behaving himself. No blowups. No getting back at noblemen by stealing their daughter's virtue."

Olivia looked at Liam. "Did you actually do that?"

Liam glared at his brother. "Only once," he said sulkily.

Olivia begin giggling, and surprisingly Keladry of Mindelan followed her despite her attempts to hide a laugh behind her hand. Soon the whole group was joined in, though Princess Shinkokami and Lady Yukimi of Queenscove both hid their smiles of mirth behind their fans. They easily transitioned into the comfortable banter they had shared before. They were interrupted now and then by various courtiers who greeted Olivia and congratulated Liam. Late in the evening, Liam saw Kel stiffen, as did Dom, who moved the tiniest bit closer. Turning, Liam saw Lord Burchard of Stone

"Princess Olivia, it is truly a pleasure to have you at court" he said, surprisingly civilly given the fact that he never bothered to hide his dislike of the Contes or most of the other knights with them after his son died.

"Thank you, Lord Barnard," Olivia said, smiling and nodding her head to him.

"How clever of you, Prince Liam, to make sure your bride was fertile before you crowned her," he added, smiling nastily at both princes.

Shinko grabbed Roald's arm and squeezed a warning as he stepped forward eye's flashing, though her face betrayed none of the pain that her friend's knew she battled over her still childless state.

"How dare you," Roald snapped revealing anger publicly for the first time Liam could remember. Hand already on his sword, Liam stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother as Roald continued. "How dare you make filthy insinuations about a Princess of Tortall and mention things about the future Queen that is absolutely none of your affair. I ought to challenge you right here."

"But he's not worth it," Olivia said, stepping between all of them, her voice steel, and her eyes hard with anger. "Now, Lord Burchard, I suggest you step head back to your friends and leave off the wine in the future, for next time, I'll not intervene when they kill you before the whole court for the folly of your tongue. I know your very fertile marriage has left you expecting one son for every forty years, but not everyone has the womb of your shrew wife. I promise you a lovely little half-Yamani prince or princess and future King or Queen of Tortall shall face the Chamber of the Ordeal not long after my little girl in here, and you know I do believe my child and Princess Shinkokami's child shall live through the night as all honorable and good Tortallans do."

Bernard moved to slap her, and she caught his wrist before he could touch her. "Do you really want to duel with me, my lord? Think how humiliating it would be to die at the end of a pregnant woman's sword."

Bernard cursed and she dug her nails into his skin, until he wrenched his arm free and sneered at her, but made no move to slap her again.

"Get away from my court now," Roald seethed. "You are banished until future notice. You are lucky not to die right here. Go."

The whole court was staring at them as Burchard stalked out angrily. "Why did you intervene," Roald demanded of Olivia. "It would have made life much easier and pleasanter to have him dead and gone."

"When kings and princes begin to kill for personal reasons, I've seen that they often find it difficult to stop," Olivia said quietly. "It's a slope I doubt either of you want to find yourselves sliding down."

"You are wise far beyond your years, your highness." At Jonathan's voice, they all three turned to the side. "What exactly just occurred?"

Roald glanced at Shinko, squeezing her hand lightly. "Nothing worth repeating," he said quietly, regaining control. "Princess Olivia took care of the problem quite handily."

"Apparently," Jon said dryly. "Well, I suppose if you had to banish a noble, Burchard would have been the best choice."

"Could you really have beaten him?" Owen of Jesslaw blurted out. "I'm sorry if you were planning to continue, your majesty, but I must know. Princess Olivia, could you have really beaten Lord Burchard in a duel?"

"Of course not," Olivia said. "I can barely even walk. That little page over there could beat me blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back. Plus, I only learned the sword recently. I'm not really that good, but having a cousin known for her sword-fighting abilities comes in handy occasionally."

"What would you have done if he had called your bluff?" Owen asked.

Olivia grinned. "Pled fear for the baby since I had contractions only a few weeks ago and made my lord do it for me."

"Thank you, darling," Liam said dryly.

"You just said you thought it was a bad idea for us to duel," Roald said, the anger still present in his voice.

"A prince killing someone who affronted his family is unfortunate and should be prevented if possible. A future king killing someone who affronted his family is another thing entirely," Olivia said quietly. "You have every right to be angry, your highness, but every life has value, especially the lives of your subjects. I've lived with a king who forgot that, and I know that you never will, but the easiest way to avoid the end of a path is to never take a step on it."

Roald cocked his head and looked her over, his eyes softening slowly. "You are very welcome here, your highness," he finally said.

"Thank you," Princess Shinkokami added.

"Aren't all the soldiers and Own gathering some place?" Jon asked. "Why don't you all go there? This ball is nearly finished anyways."

"I'd rather stay," Shinko said, holding her head up proudly. "You all should go though. The men would be sad not to see you."

"I'll stay with you," Roald said.

"That isn't necessary, my lord," Shinko said. "I'm quite alight. I am sure your friends would be delighted to spend time with you."

"Well, I'm not going to go. I'm far too tired to make it into the city and back. Have fun all of you. I'd like to spend sometime with her highness anyways. It would be nice to talk to another Princess who has had to adjust to the ways of this court of yours," Olivia said. "That is if you have no objection, your highness."

"That would be quite pleasant," Shinko replied. "Shall we go sit in those chairs?"

The two women walked over to the chairs lined against the walls, talking pleasantly to each other. Liam thrust his hands into his pockets and frowned. "Do you think they'll start ganging up on us?" he asked.

"Probably," Roald said with a sigh. "Come on. Let's head down."

They all bowed to Jonathan and headed out of the palace grounds. The rest of the group was loud and boisterous as they made their way to the bar, but Roald and Liam hung back. "Are you alright?" Liam asked his brother.

Roald nodded. "I'm fine, just worried about Shinko. The courtiers have started whispering about the fact that she isn't pregnant, and I know she really wants a child and is starting to worry that she can't have one. It's silly. We still have plenty of time and the healers say she's perfectly healthy"

"Olivia will talk to her. She's good at that sort of thing," Liam said.

"She's good at lots of things," Roald said mildly. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Liam said. "I was mad on your behalf really. I mean I did get her pregnant before I married her after all, and I knew what he said wouldn't bother her at all. Don't worry about, Shinko. I promise Olivia will know what to say. Now here we are. Have a drink or two and enjoy the company."

Roald sighed. "I'm not good at this like you are. I can't just go talk to them all."

"Of course you can. You just need to loosen up a little," Liam said.

Roald just shook his head. Liam stopped him before he went into the bar, looking him over. "Listen, Roald. I'm good at this because I can play up the irresponsible younger prince. You have to stand on ceremony. It's just a good thing you were born first because I would have been terrible at what you do, and it's an honor to serve under you."

Roald smiled. "She's rubbing off on you, little brother. Come on."

A few hours later, Liam walked out, holding Jayseb up with Pila's help. Liam counted heads as he left, making sure everyone was going home in large enough groups with enough sober people. He was coming up two short, so he left Pila for a moment to walk back to the bar when he saw Dom and Kel coming out. As usual, Kel was completely sober, but Dom was uncharacteristically drunk and had his arm thrown over Kel's shoulder. "You're amazing," he slurred. "Just totally perfect. You're smart, and nice and you have such pretty eyes."

Liam walked over. "You two okay to get back?" he asked.

"Yes, your highness," Kel said with a bigger smile then Liam had ever seen on her face. "I'll get him back to the barracks in one piece. Poor man. I really should of told them that Raoul plans to take them on an early morning run tomorrow."

"What?" Dom exclaimed. "I take it back. You're mean. Very mean. But that's why you're funny too. You can keep up with all of us, but you hide behind that mask of yours so we never know. Just all perfect."

Liam smiled and winked at Kel before heading back to Pila and Jayseb.

"Alright, let's get you two home. Where do you live?" he asked

"We're both staying at my cousin's place, highness. It's on the way to the castle," Pila said.

Liam nodded and they walked off. As they walked, Jayseb mumbled, "It's all my fault."

Liam looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?" he asked casually. He'd tried to talk to Jayseb earlier, but failed, and he'd been hoping the walk back would give him another chance

"I panicked when they came at us. I broke formation. That's why they all died."

Liam sighed and stopped in the street, turning Jayseb to look at him. "Listen to me, Jayseb. You were only one of at least fifty men who broke formation at that moment. I spent a lot of time kicking myself, wondering how I could have prevented it, but I don't think it was preventable, by you or me. It was just how the battlefield was set up, with that mound to the right you had no way to turn easily with the rest, and we had no control over that and couldn't have known it was there. Let it go Jayseb. At least half the survivors have you to thank for pulling them off the field and into safety. I couldn't have done anything for them without your help. You have to let go of the guilt. Do you understand, soldier?"

Jayseb looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Thank you, my lord."

"You're welcome. Now, let's get you to bed."

Pila beamed at him as she pulled Jayseb's other arm over his shoulder and they started towards his house. Once he had them home, he headed with the rest for the castle. There were candles lit in the front room, and Liam stripped there to keep from waking Olivia, then crept into the bedroom and climbed into bed. He wrapped around Olivia and she murmured softly, craning her head to kiss him gently.

"Did you talk to Jayseb?" she asked.

"Yes, love. It went well. Did you talk to Shinko?"

"Yes."

"How did that go?"

"Well, I think. She's tricky with her Yamani ways, but I think she'll be alright."

"Good, now go to sleep."

"Are you okay? I can't believe what some of those lords said tonight."

"I'm just fine. After all, I had you," Liam said with a smile. "Now go back to sleep."

Olivia turned in his arms, kissing his sweetly on the lips. "But what if I don't want to?" she replied with a grin.

---  
Pretty long for a filler, I know, but actually shouldn't be tooo many more left. By the way, since this is taking so long, I think I'll start posting some Zenobia stuff. I've been thinking about it a lot and it interferes with me thinking about this one. I figure I might as well just get it out. Now review and keep me motivated please!!


	42. Chapter 42

"She's yelling," Liam said, looking at the door in concern. He stood up from the bench, moved to the door, then returned to the bench.

"This is normal, son," Jon said. "Trust me. I've sat right here five times before. Yelling is normal."

"But it has been going on so long," Liam said. "Shouldn't I go in there?"

"How about next time mother comes out you tell her to tell Olivia you'll go in there if she wants you?" Roald said, failing to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"Just wait," Liam snapped. "Just wait for seven and a half months from now when you're here. You'll be all worried, and I'll just laughed."

"What?!" Jon exclaimed, looking at his oldest son.

Roald glared at Liam. "We were going to tell you once it had been two months," Roald said. "Shinko just found out three days ago. Usually, I can trust you to keep a secret."

"Olivia's in labor. It's the stress," Liam exclaimed.

"It doesn't sound like Olivia's told anyone, and I think she's probably more stressed then you," Roald replied.

"Boys, hush," Jon said, interrupting Liam's reply. "Congratulations, Roald."

"Thank you," Roald said, a big smile spreading across his face. "I just keep thinking about what Olivia said to Lord Burchard, can you imagine our kids in page training together, Liam? They'll both be the same year if they decide to go for their knighthood."

Liam was about to reply when he paused and listened, grinning big. A baby's wail came through the door loud and clear, and the door opened up. "Come meet your baby girl, Liam," Thayet said.

Liam walked quickly through the door, using all his self-control not to run. Alanna and Shinko followed Thayet out, closing the door behind them to leave the couple alone.

Liam walked over to the bed Olivia lay on, holding a small bundle in her arm. Liam sat down next to her on the bed, and looked down at their baby.

"She's beautiful, sweet," Liam said, kissing Olivia on the temple. "Look at all that black hair of hers."

"And her red tomato face," Olivia said with a grin. "She's definitely your baby."

Liam laughed. "Nope, our Leilah's a beauty, just like her mother."

"Want to hold her?" Olivia asked. "I'm a little tired, truth be told."

"Yes, of course," Liam said. "You don't think I'll break her do you."

Olivia laughed. "No, love. Just support her neck. That's the only important thing. Now arrange your arms like mine, and I'll give her to you. There you go."

Liam gazed in shock down at his little girl. She started to move and he nearly panicked. "She's moving," he exclaimed.

"Yes, baby's do that," Olivia replied, smiling as her normally calm and courageous husband showed his blatant terror as he looked down at their child.

Leilah yawned and then blinked, opening her eyes slowly. Liam gasped quietly, amazed by how big her violet eyes were. "Hello Leilah. I'm your, Da. You have eyes just like your Ma. Did you know that?"

Leilah yawned again and closed her eyes. Liam settled her slowly in his left arm, pressing her securely against his chest and leaning back against the headboard of the bed. He slung his other arm around Olivia's shoulders, pulling her against his chest as well. Olivia smiled and reached out to stroke their daughter's cheek.

"She's so perfect," Olivia breathed.

Liam smiled and craned forward, kissing her gently on the mouth. "Yes, she is, and so are you. Now go to sleep, you've earned it."

Olivia smiled and leaned back against him, falling asleep before she'd even settled completely against him.

---

Liam woke in the middle of the night and reached for Olivia, only to find she wasn't there. He sighed, wondering if he'd slept through Leilah crying again. Olivia always seemed to wake first, and occasionally she made it into the other room and had her quiet before he even knew she was awake. He stood up and pulled on some breeches, groping his way to the passageway between their room and Olivia's old room, which they'd turned into the nursery. Olivia had refused to put Leilah in the royal nursery, preferring to keep her close by and defy the norms of the noble class by nursing her herself.

When Liam opened the door, he saw to his surprise that Olivia wasn't nursing Leilah in the rocking chair, but simply standing over her crib. He walked up behind her and slid an arm around her waist, kissing her neck.

"What are you doing, love?" Liam asked.

"She's lovely, isn't she?"

Liam smiled. "Yes, she's perfect. What's wrong?"

Olivia smiled back at him. "How did you know?"

"I just do. What's wrong?"

"My brother got in touch with me through our mirrors. He just got word that the King is having him locked up tomorrow, apparently his majesty has finally wised up to our rebellion plans. He's taking off tonight and headed to hide out with our tribe. This rebellion is going to happen soon. I need to head to Saren immediately. I had gotten some of the nobles behind us before I left, and Jasper is worried some of them are going to back out now that I've gone, since I was the one that had made initial contact."

"When will you leave?"

"The day after tomorrow if I can get ready that quickly. I'm so sorry, ohmi."

Liam wrapped his other arm around her. "Don't be silly. We both knew this was coming. I honestly didn't think you'd be able to stay six months after she was born."

"I shouldn't of, but I just couldn't make myself leave."

Liam fought his instinct to tell her not to go, and instead said, "You weren't needed before, but you are now."

Olivia turned in his arms and kissed him on the lips. "Thank you for not asking me to stay."

Liam managed a smile. "I know you'd never forgive yourself if you didn't go, and I don't need a mopey wife. Just come back when it's all done."

"I will. Take care of her."

"Of course."

Olivia kissed Liam again. "I love you, so much."

Liam kissed her in return, backing out of the room slowly. "I love you, too," he murmured as he closed the door to Leilah's room. Olivia pulled him to her urgently, kissing him hard. Liam returned her kisses, pushing her against the door. As the kisses deepened, he grasped her thighs and lifted her up, wrapping her legs around her waist. He slid his hand between the fold of her robe to caress her breast. She moaned softly, breaking the kiss to bite him gently on the neck as she pushed his breeches down off his hips. He moved her loincloth aside and pushed into her, and Olivia guided his mouth back to hers as he moved his hips back and forth.

As he remembered the last time they'd made love this way, he slid his hand to her chest grasping her pregnancy charm gently. He felt her hand touch his and smiled, opening his eyes and seeing her grin back at him, knowing they were both thinking about the event that had meant their daughter slept peacefully in the next room. Olivia kissed him again, drawing him back into the present and he picked up the pace, knowing from familiarity with her body that she was close to finishing. He gasped and put one hand on her hip, pulling her insistently closer as he felt that moment of blissful uncontrol before he brought them both to their finish.

Olivia's formerly taut body relaxed into him as she leaned her forehead against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. She slid off of him and stood on her own two feet, keeping her head buried in his chest for a long moment before pulling away enough to look up at him.

"My lord, do you know how terribly improper that was?" Olivia asked haughtily, though she failed to hide her teasing smile. "Proper noble ladies do not appreciate being had against a door, let alone the door to the nursery."

Liam grinned and tugged her braid gently. "It's a good thing I didn't marry a proper noble lady then, isn't it? Come on. Let's go back to sleep. You'll have plenty to do tomorrow."

---

Review!


	43. Chapter 43

"There's one thing I want to ask of you before I leave," Olivia said, speaking to the King and his council. She took a deep breath, then said, "I need you to promise that if I am captured during the course of this rebellion, you won't pay ransom."

"What?!" Liam yelped. Before he could say anything else, Olivia clamped a hand firmly over his mouth.

"You are already in a difficult position because of me," she continued. "Having a princess take part in a rebellion will look bad to your allies and make a true enemy of Sarain if we fail. I don't want you giving money to them. It would only increase my own failure."

"Alright," Jon said.

"Father," Liam said. "This is—"

"Swear by the Gods?" Olivia interrupted.

"I swear by Mithros and the Goddess that we will not pay ransom for you if you are captured by the your father or other members of the Sarain government."

"You can't do this," Liam cried. "Olivia, release him from the oath."

"Hush, Liam," Olivia said gently. "This is how it has to be. I didn't marry you to further my cause."

Liam bit his lip, forcing himself to be quiet.

"A few of the Riders will want to go with you," Thayet said.

Olivia nodded. "I spoke to Korintha about it. She and three others are insistent they are going, as is Sandra. I was able to convince the rest that their duty was here."

Buri made a face, and Olivia smiled. "I do appreciate the offers though," Olivia added.

Jon glanced at Buri and then back at Olivia, respect clearly written on his face. "We do appreciate that; however, you aren't going in there without at least some support from us. We do have a stake in this after all. We can give you money, weapons, even horses or ponies if you need them."

Olivia opened her mouth to protest, but Jon held up a hand. "You are a princess of Tortall," Jon said firmly. "That comes with benefits as well as duty. And as I said, we have a stake in this. Sarain has threatened to cut all trade with us. I don't think they actually will, but needless to say, we would prefer to have Jasper as King. Take what we are offering. You know very well you'll need all the help you can get."

Olivia nodded. "Thank you," she added.

She hesitated, then added, "I'd like to ask one other thing of you. If this fails, I'd like to set up ways for survivors of the rebellion to make it to Tortall. Especially K'miri children. If this fails, I believe his majesty will try and wipe out the K'mir. I need to make sure some of them can get out of Sarain."

"Of course," Thayet said as Jon drummed his fingers on the large table thoughtfully. "Right?" she added, looking at her husband.

"It will be difficult logistically," he finally said.

"I know," Olivia said quietly. "It's a lot to ask, and I understand if you don't want to take the risk politically."

"No, of course we will figure out a way. I think going via the Inland Sea would be the best way, but I'll have to get in touch with Kalasin. She should be able to convince Kaddar to have his people simply overlook anyone who enters their part of the sea. Then they can stay on the Carthak side until they reach Tortall and cross over. We'll set something up right on the border of Tortall and Tyra on the south end for once any survivors arrive."

Olivia heaved a sigh of relief. "That will work best on our end too. The K'miri have control over most of the southern mountains. It shouldn't be too hard to build boats and have them ready by the sea for refugees."

They talked strategy and logistics for a while longer before the meeting disbanded. Liam hardly listened. Something about her request and the way she'd been acting forced Liam to recognize that she didn't really expect to make it through this rebellion. Before he knew it everyone was leaving, and Olivia was talking to his parents quietly. His mother gave her a hug before they both left, leaving Olivia and Liam alone in the large conference room together.

"You don't think you're coming back," Liam said hollowly, not looking at her. She sat on the table and forced him to look at her.

"That's not true," she said quietly.

"It is true. You expect to die in Sarain. You can't hide it from me."

Olivia looked away, then sighed and looked back at him. She reached out and took his hands, pulling them into her lap. "It isn't really that I expect to die. It's hard to explain. I guess I never in my life thought I would be as happy as I've been here. I saw my life before me, and it had some friends and family surely, but it mostly held duty and hard work and in truth a very slim chance of success in what I hoped to do. Then I came here, and suddenly I found love, acceptance, a husband, a daughter. I feel," she paused, searching for the words. "I feel blessed by the gods for the time I have had here. I didn't think it could get better then the time I spent with you, and then our wonderful little Leilah was born, and I just can't quite believe I will be able to be as happy as I have been these last few months for the rest of my life. That just doesn't feel like my fate."

Jason folded his arms stubbornly. "That is your fate. Do you hear me? You decide your fate, and no one else, so decide you are coming back. You can you know. You're really good with a sword and a bow now, especially with all the extra time we've been putting in since Leilah was born, and mother and Alanna both say you got your strength and endurance back in record time after your pregnancy. You can do this."

Olivia smiled, reaching out to touch his cheek. "Believe me, ohmi. I will fight with every fiber of my being to come back here. I know what my reward is if I can make it through the darkness. I only hope that I can reach it."

She slid off the table into his lap, kissing him on the neck until he softened and wrapped his arms around her. "You have to come back," he whispered. "I don't know how to do this without you anymore."

"I know, ohmi. I know," she replied quietly. "I felt the same way when you went to Scanra. I know how hard it is."

Liam held her for along while, until at last she broke the silence. "I have a present for you," she said.

Liam looked at her. "What's the occasion?"

"The occasion is that I find it unlikely that I will be able to get a present to you on your birthday, and after the lavishness of the presents you gave me a few weeks ago, I decided I would just give you yours a few months early. Come on." Olivia stood and pulled up Liam after her.

To his surprise, she led him outside the castle and down to the stables. They got to the horse yard where the royal horses were kept, and she told him to wait. She went into the stables, and a few minutes later, she came back leading a large dark, almost metal colored stallion with a black mane and tail.

"He's gorgeous," Liam said, walking forward slowly with his hands out.

"He's one of Appa's. One of our people was coming with messages for me, and I asked Appa to send me a horse he thought would suit you. I know how much you've mourned the horse you lost, but I thought perhaps it was time you stopped riding the extras. I know most Tortallan knights have been turning to geldings and mares, but he's calm for a stallion, and Appa's had success using his magic to train mares not to chase stallions," Olivia said, handing Liam some sugar cubes to feed the horse. Liam ran his hand over the horses flanks, then inspected his hooves and teeth.

"He's perfect," Liam said, as the stallion nibbled at his pocket, wanting more sugar.

"He's got a real sweet-tooth," Olivia said affectionately, rubbing the horse's muzzle. "We left you the honor of naming him."

Liam stroked the stallions neck for a moment, then said, "I think I'll name him Casanova."

Olivia threw back her head and laughed. "Oh that's perfect. Just perfect. Get up on him. See how he feels. I'll go get Beauty, and we can go for a ride just the two of us, and then spend the afternoon with Leilah."

Liam mounted and kicked Casanova into a trot around the small pen. They both led their horses out of the gate, and as they reached the open field, Olivia grinned. "Race you to that first rock," she shouted.

---

Thanks for all the reviews! Please keep it up! It's the only thing that motivates me to return to this when I have tons of schoolwork to do....


	44. Chapter 44

"Appa, tell me a story," Leilah whined, tugging on his pants.

"I have to write this report, little one. Then I'll tell you a story," Liam replied, peering under his desk to where his daughter sat curled at his feet.

"But Appa, I want a story now," she said, looking up at him, her violet-eyes wide. Liam sighed, giving in instantly as he almost always did when she looked at him like that. He reached down and pulled her out from under the desk, settling her in his lap.

"What story do you want me to tell you? Want to hear about the man and the moon? Or do you want to hear a story about the dragon land's again?"

Leilah shook her head. "New story," she demanded.

Liam sighed, trying to think of a new story to tell her. Finally, one occurred to him, and he smiled, "Want to hear one of your mama's favorite stories?"

Leilah nodded eagerly, as always pleased to hear anything about her mother. "Well, once there was a K'miri woman who lived with her son, and she loved him very much," Liam began, his thoughts drifting as he recited the story of the North Star. He hadn't heard from Olivia in two months. It was longest she'd ever gone over the two and a half years she'd spent in Sarain without managing to get into contact with him, and he was worried. He finished his story, and Leilah looked up at him, her little face scrunched in deep concentration.

"Appa," she finally said. "Can Mama look at the North Star where she is?"

"Of course, Leilah," Liam replied.

"So, why doesn't she follow it home?"

Liam sighed. "Because she's doing very important things for people who need her Leilah. You know how I leave you sometimes so I can help protect people?"

Leilah nodded. "You kill monsters and bad people who want to hurt good people."

Liam smiled. "Yes. Well, mama is doing the same thing. It's just that there are a lot more bad people where mama is then there are when I go. She wants to come home, very much, but she has to stay."

"She'll come home one day though, right?"

Liam's chest squeezed at the question that he asked himself everyday. "Of course she will, and she'll be so happy to see you little one."

"She will?"

"Yes, very."

The mirror propped up on Liam's desk chose that moment to glow. Liam heaved a sigh of relief as Olivia's face appeared in it.

"Look, Leilah," Liam whispered, kissing the girl on her hair.

"Mama," Leilah exclaimed.

"Hello, baby girl," she said, smiling at her daughter. While Leilah chattered at Olivia, Liam took the time to examine his wife's face. He could see her weariness, and as she swept a piece of hair away from her face, Liam saw a bandage wrapped around her lower arm. After they'd chatted for awhile, Liam said, "Alright, Leilah, it's my turn to talk to Mama. Let's go find Sara."

Once he had Leilah settled, he returned to the mirror. "Hello, love," he said. "I was worried."

"I know. I'm sorry. I tried two weeks ago, but you weren't there."

"Spidrens."

"You've been going out on missions a lot lately," Olivia commented.

Liam shifted in his chair. "I don't go for anything that will take longer then two weeks."

"Oh, ohmi. I didn't mean that as reprimand at all. I was just commenting. I know how much you love to go out. I would never tell you not to do that," Olivia said quickly.

Liam relaxed. "I'm sorry. I thought you meant—nevermind. Yes, I've been going out more. Leilah is starting to understand why I'm gone, and you too, which makes me feel better about leaving her with Sara. And occasionally when I'm actually in the middle of fighting or planning or what have you, I stop worrying about you."

Olivia smiled. "I remember that. I ripped all the flooring up in that little cottage convinced there was a mice under the boards, and that I could find them and kill them. The single-minded determination that went with that war against the mice of the house was one of my few moments of total peace while you were in Scanra."

Liam laughed. "You never told me that."

Olivia smiled again and shrugged. Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks.

"Hey now, what's wrong," Liam asked, alarmed by her uncharacteristic tears. He hadn't seen her cry like this since the anniversary of her mother's death.

"I'm sorry," she choked out, shoulders still shaking. She buried her face in her hands, and breathed slowly, forcing herself to calm down. "It's just been hard. Jasper nearly died in some fighting a week ago. I barely managed to keep him alive, and in the meantime we lost most of our experienced commanders. We're on the edge of losing this, and I miss you and Leilah so much, and this all seems so unimaginably hopeless."

"Oh, sweet. I am so sorry," he said, desperately trying to think of something more helpful to say.

She blew out a deep breath, managing to mostly regain control, though a few tears still trickled down her face. "I ended up having to take command in a scrimmage we had a week ago. We had to retreat to the mountains, and our commander was shot down, and he was the last one, and no one knew what to do, and Jasper was injured, and I had him on my horse and it was just chaos. I nearly panicked. I managed to get it together, but we lost so many people."

Liam recognized the feelings she was hinting at. "Olivia, listen to me. Remember what you told me? Those people chose to fight for you, and for Jasper, and for Sarain. It was their choice. Honor their sacrifice, grieve their death, but remember, the guilt is not yours to bear."

Olivia smiled through her tears. "I guess I have to listen to my own advice, don't I?"

"Yes, you do," Liam said, smiling back at her. "If you don't, then I never will."

Olivia sighed and wiped the tears away, shaking her head and taking on a businesslike tone. "It's not just the deaths. I'm afraid that I won't be able to honor their sacrifice the best way possible. Liam, we're about to lose. We have one last shot, but it's a long shot. It's our last shot. One last battle. We are aiming for a month from now. We are hoping to lull them into thinking Jasper died, and give ourselves time to heal and train. K'miri warriors are mainly trained for sneak attacks in the field, and this will be a siege on the main castle. Thankfully, the walls aren't in great shape, but we still have to change our attack strategies. I'm regretting turning Buri away. I am going to try and recruit one more lord to our side though. He'll want none of it, but I was good friends with his daughter, and she has him wrapped around her finger. She's also ambitious. I think if we offer to let her be queen, she'll convince her father to support us, and more importantly let us through his land which will get us to the castle fairly easily. It's a lot of ifs though."

"Sounds like a good start though, and I have a feeling Buri may be headed your way. I've seen her and mother whispering a lot."

Olivia sighed. "I should argue with her, but I need her."

A knock sounded on the door, and Liam sighed, "Can you hold on a moment?"

"I have to go. I'm meeting with the elders to discuss my plans."

"I love you," Liam said.

"I love you too, ohmi. I'll try and use the mirror again soon."

Liam stared at the empty mirror for a moment, but another knock forced her to stand up and go to the door. He opened it, and one of his father's messengers stood at the door, asking him to attend a King's Council meeting.

Liam was walking down the hall when he heard a loud bang, followed by a loud screech. He ran into the nursery to see Leilah splayed on the floor with Sara next to her begging her to sit up.

"What happened?" Liam asked, rushing over.

"I'm so sorry. I only turned around for a second to put her toys away and she'd gotten up on the bureau and fell off," Sara said, eyes wide in shock.

"Sara, calm down," Liam said kindly, once he realized Leilah just had a split lip and a bruised knee. He healed her quickly. "These things happen. I fell off many a piece of furniture in my day."

Leilah continued to cry even after Liam finished healing her. "Hush now, baby girl," he whispered, picking her up. "I know that hurt, but you're fine now."

Leilah stopped crying, but kept her arms firmly locked around Liam's neck.

"Alright, Leilah I have to go to a meeting."

"Can I come, appa? I'll be quiet," Leilah asked.

Liam looked down at her. Since he'd started going out on missions again, she tended to try and stay as close as possible to him when he returned. He was unsure whether he could indulge her, but he had trouble saying no when all she wanted was to stay close to him.

"Come on Leilah," Sara coaxed, when Liam failed to respond to Leilah. "We can play with your blocks some more."

"No."

Liam sighed. "It's fine, Sara. I'll take her. She'll be a sleep in a minute anyway after the healing."

Liam hurried to the meeting, convincing Leilah to release his neck and settle onto his hip along the way.

He was the last one to appear at his father's table. "I'm sorry," he said, finding his seat and putting Leilah in his lap. "What is going on?"

"Buri," Jon said. "I believe you are the one who wanted this meeting."

Buri sat up straight. "I'm leaving for Sarain tomorrow," she said firmly. "I spoke with the elders. Their experienced commanders have all been killed and they are mounting one last stand. I'm going, so are a few of the Riders that Olivia talked out of going before."

"I'm going too," Raoul added.

"What?!" Jonathan exclaimed. "Buri going is one thing, but you are still Commander of the Own."

"And it's time we gave Kel a chance. We put her in as temporary Commander, see how it goes."

"You can't just leave," Jon insisted.

"Alanna got to go wonder the world for awhile. It's my turn, and I'm not letting Buri go without me, and if she doesn't go she'll make all of our lives hell."

"You aren't actually giving me a choice, are you?" Jon said wryly.

Raoul shrugged. "Kel can do the job, Jon. I've been doing this a long time. I'm ready to be slowly phased out. We are as peaceful right now as we could hope to be. You don't need me here, but I could do some good for Sarain and Tortall there."

"Having Kel take over without you here is a big step. She's never been placed in charge. I'm not sure she's ready," Jon replied.

"She's ready," Roald said firmly. "I agree with Raoul. The most help he could do is help Olivia win."

Liam stopped listening to them argue, knowing already that Raoul would be allowed to go. Perhaps he could go too. He could lend a sword just as easily as the other two. Leilah tugged on his shirt, pulling him out of his fantasy of seeing Olivia within two weeks. He couldn't leave her alone. He kissed her of the forehead, stroking her curls.

"Fine," Jon said. "Obviously, you are going. Try to keep too many of your fighters from following. I don't want to lose all my fighting force."

Raoul shook his head. "Third Company are the men who would be inclined to come with me, and they'll be easily convinced that they should stay with Kel. Don't worry, none of the Own will follow me."

"I think we should consider letting Liam go as well," Roald said.

"What?!" Jon and Liam exclaimed at the same time.

"Obviously, we can only ask volunteers to go, and we can't even ask them. I think the Own is the best fighting force to ensure stays here, which we've done, but we could spare soldiers, especially the many soldiers who are no longer in the army. If Liam went, quite a few of them would go as well."

"I can't leave, Leilah," Liam said firmly. "I want to go. I really do, but I can't leave her alone without either of her parents here for Mithros only knows how long."

"And it is one thing to have some of our fighters go, having a prince go tells our Allies that we are fully supporting this rebellion," Jon said.

"We have a princess there already. Our Allies hardly even mentioned it. If they were inclined to make a fuss, they would have. They'll look the other way if we aren't gaudy about it. It's not like we'll formally announce Liam is going."

"Did you not hear me?" Liam said, starting to get angry. He desperately wanted to go, and this discussion only made the knowledge that he couldn't feel worse.

"You could take her," Buri pointed out.

"I can't do that," Liam exclaimed. "That's way too dangerous."

"It's not actually," Buri replied. "The K'mir know how to guard their children. How do you think we've managed to survive so long? Take Sara with us, she'll guard the girl when we are fighting, and if something happens get her on a boat with the rest of the survivors. If things go South, she just has to get to Carthak, unlike the rest of the people. Kally will take care of her if something goes really wrong."

Jon pursued his lips thinking for a moment. "Liam, if you had to guess how many men would follow you if they knew you were going. What would you think?"

"I—well, most of the survivors would, and some of the soldiers I commanded when Padraig was injured. I'd guess fifty."

"And then we have sixteen riders going?" Jon asked.

Buri nodded.

"Would that make much of a difference?" Jon asked her.

"It would." Liam admitted. "They are planning to sneak into the capital and just hit the castle directly. Fighters experienced with dealing with a castle would be welcome, since the K'mir don't have any, but its not a difficult siege since the walls are in disrepair so seventy people could make a difference."

"You talked to Olivia recently?" Jon asked.

"Yes, she seems pretty certain they'll lose honestly, but maybe we could weight the dice in her favor some more. I just, I don't know about risking Leilah."

"I wanna see Mama!" Leilah screeched suddenly.

"Leilah, hush," Liam said.

"Mama! Mama! Mama!" she crowed happily.

Liam rubbed his forehead. "I've spoiled you far too much," he said, looking at his daughter.

Jon smiled. "It's up to you, Liam," he said. "For me, I think if I have to let Buri and Raoul and those Riders go, we might actually give them a chance at winning."

Liam looked at Leilah for a moment, then grinned. "You know. I do think you're right," he said.

"Go see Mama?"

"Yes baby girl. We're going to go see Mama."

-----

Review please! We are nearing the end at long last. Also, yeah messed up and called Liam Jason once in the last chapter, whoops.


	45. Chapter 45

They only rode in the boat under cover of darkness, stopping during the day at predetermined points along Carthak's coast. The waiting was agony. At least on the boat they were moving while they waited, but even that stretched Liam's nerves to the breaking point. It didn't help that he was fairly certain Olivia would be angry that he had brought Leilah with him. He hadn't told her they were coming. In fact, the K'mir were only expecting Buri and a few Riders, since the Tortallans felt they didn't have a secure enough way to tell them who would be coming. As a result, Liam vacillated between being excruciatingly excited to see her, and fearful that their meeting would not go as he so hoped it would. He tried to distract himself by spending time with Leilah, but different possibilities of what would occur when he finally saw Olivia never left his mind.

The last day was the worst. Lust had finally won out over all other possible scenarios, and he couldn't stop thinking about exactly what he wanted to do with Olivia when he saw her.

"Appa," Leilah said, pulling him out of his fantasies of dragging off all of Olivia's clothes as they began boarding the boat to make the last leg of their trip.

"Yes baby girl," he said, picking her up and setting her on his hip.

"Will mama like me?" she asked, her eyes big.

"Of course she will," he said, his heart aching as he realized that he had failed to notice that he wasn't the only one anxious about seeing Olivia. "You've talked to your mama. You know how much she loves you. She always wants to talk about you after you leave. She misses you so much. She is going to be so happy to see you."

"Promise," Leilah said, putting her hand over his heart.

He covered her hand with his, playing his part in the ritual they went through every time he promised her something. "I promise baby girl."

Leilah nodded, looking pleased and leaned against him. The boat pushed off quickly after they finished talking, and Liam felt Leilah's head grow heavy against his chest, a sure sign that she'd fallen asleep. He cradled her closely, deciding against putting her down in her bed the way he normally did. Occasionally, he was filled with wonder at how much he loved the little girl in his arms. She was sweet, inquisitive and imaginative, and most importantly, she was his. He knew in part it was Olivia's absence that had made them as close as they were. After she'd left, Liam had kept Leilah with him so much of the time that Roald had teasingly suggested he reassign Sara since she so rarely actually watched Leilah. Gradually, he'd found that his itch to be out helping people overtook his need to stay with his daughter, but he no longer chaffed under every moment he spent in the castle waiting to leave, and when he was gone he missed her constant questions and only mostly understandable chatter. He stayed up through the journey, holding her as the boat made its way through the water. At long last, it landed and two well-armed K'mir came forward from the shadows of the forest to draw the boat to its bank.

"So, at last we are here." Pila's voice came out from the darkness behind him. "This should be fun."

Liam smiled at the woman. "You've gotten a taste for battle."

Pila shrugged. "I'm just pleased to be back on foot again. I was happy for the excuse to leave my pony behind when we were told only some of us would be able to bring our mounts. I want to fight under you, with the foot soldiers who came. I've like my work with the Riders, but I'm much more sure of my self when all I'm relying on is my own two feet."

"Don't worry. I already told Buri you were to be placed under my command. I'd have to worry about you getting in trouble without me around."

Pila snorted. "More like the other way around, although I suppose you'll have your lady love to nag you now."

"My lady love," Liam said incredulously. "You've been spending far too much time with Evin Larse."

Pila laughed as they walked onto the beach. "It's true. The commander's flowery language has a way of rubbing off on his troops."

Buri and one of the K'mir who'd appeared were having a hushed conversation, then she walked over. "We'll have to leave the horses here for now. They'll send people up to lead them one at a time later. They want us to split into groups of ten on the off chance that there is an enemy scout or spy somewhere in the woods. Liam, you and I and Raoul should go in the first group. We'll want to discuss what we are going to do with the soldiers we've brought, since they won't have been expecting us to come with a hundred soldiers and ten horses. We'll bring Sara. Can you go split your soldiers into groups of ten?"

Liam nodded and moved through his men, quickly and carefully dividing them up and assigning each group a leader who he knew would follow the K'miri guide's orders. Once he was finished, he joined Buri, Raoul, Sara and a few of the K'miri riders as they walked into the forest in the direction their greeters pointed.

"We're supposed to wait," Buri trailed off, inspecting the trees, and then placing her hand on a barely noticeable notch on one large tree. "Here, we wait here."

They didn't have to wait long before Kornitha materialized before them. She grinned when she saw Liam. "Well, this is certainly a surprise," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "How many of your men followed you?"

"Eighty," Liam replied.

Korintha whistled. "I'm not sure I even would have guessed that much. You'll certainly be welcome, and maybe this'll put her highness in a better mood. She's been acting more like her aunt everyday. You should have heard her roar at one of our sentries who fell asleep on duty. Poor man will have nightmares for a week."

Liam grimaced and shifted his weight, looking down at his daughter guiltily.

Kornitha grinned, realizing what he was thinking. "Come on. You might as well see what she actually says instead of just worry about it."

They followed her through the woods, and she pointed out markers along the way which Liam made sure to cement into his memory as they walked. At last they neared the camp, and Liam could hear Olivia's distinctive voice. "Now, your lordship don't be difficult. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Your daughter could be queen of Sarain and think about how much your fief would profit if you could sell your goods to Tortall."

Leilah stirred as they walked forward. "Mama?" she whispered sleepily as the camp fire came into view. Liam could see the back of Olivia's head as she spoke, her shoulders set as she argued with the lord she was speaking to. Distracted by the sight of her, he was unprepared when Leilah sat back away from him, and he nearly dropped her as she wriggled away, forcing him to put her down. She took off quickly towards Olivia, yelling "Mama" over and over as she ran.

Olivia turned at her voice, and saw her immediately. She stood up and ran to the girl, picking her up at hugging her tight. Liam watched her close her eyes as she held Leilah and whispered something in her ear before she opened her eyes again, searching behind her. Her eyes settled on Liam, and she smiled at him. She turned, and Jasper appeared at her side. She whispered something to Leilah which made the little girl reach out for her uncle with glee. As soon as Jasper took her, Olivia ran to Liam, who felt completely rooted to the spot. The few seconds it took her to reach him seemed to take hours, but then, at last, she was in his arms. He held her close, kissing her deeply, not caring what others thought of them. Finally, she broke off the kiss, but kept her arms around him. "What are you doing here?" she said incredulously.

Liam shrugged and grinned at her. "I thought maybe I could lend a hand."

As he spoke, the first group of his soldiers came behind him.

"How many hands exactly did you bring?"

"All total, about two hundred hands, but only one hundred actual people."

Olivia grinned. "You do know how to bring a girl a fantastic actual anniversary present."

"Is that today?" Liam exclaimed, scrambling to remember exactly how many days it had taken them to get there.

Olivia smacked him lightly. "Yes ohmi. We were married today."

"Does this mean I have to get you two anniversary presents a year?"

Olivia nodded, then leaned forward and kissed him again. "I'm afraid you'll have trouble beating this one though. You, our daughter, and a chance to win this rebellion."

"I look forward to trying," he said, kissing her.

Olivia turned in his arms. "Leilah," she called. "Are you done meeting your new family?"

Leilah wriggled out of Max's grasp, happily sprinting over to her parents. Olivia leaned down and picked her up kissing her on the temple as she leaned back against Liam.

"Do you like Jasper and Max?" Liam asked, smiling at the absolute glee on his daughter's face.

Leilah nodded enthusiastically. "They're funny," she giggled. She cuddled up against Olivia happily, and Liam was pleased to have both of them so close to him again.

Olivia sighed. "I need to go finish convincing this lord to help us. Want to come along? Your mere presence may help."

"I thought you didn't marry me to further your cause," Liam said, smiling at her.

"I didn't, but at this point I don't have much of a choice," Olivia replied. She headed over to the campfire again, still holding Olivia.

As they approached, an elegantly dressed blond was saying, "Papa, stop being ridiculous. We are going to help them."

"Sorry to interrupt, but your highness, I'd like you to meet Lord Gersham and his daughter, Lady Viola. This is my husband, Prince Liam of Tortall, and our daughter, Princess Leilah."

Lord Gersham looked at Liam, his eyes wide. "So the rumors are true, you two did marry," he said.

"Rumors?" Liam asked.

"Since they disowned me, they don't speak my name, so there was no official announcement in Sarain of our marriage."

"See, Papa. Tortall is behind us. If I marry Jasper, and we win this, the surrounding countries will recognize us as monarchs if Tortall does," Viola said.

"But—"

"No buts, Papa. I want to be Queen. Somebody has to fix this mess that his idiot majesty has pushed as all into," Viola said tartly, interrupting her father's objection.

"I brought a hundred soldiers with me, if that does anything to sway your feelings," Liam added.

Lord Gersham sighed. "Very well. It seems I have no choice. You may use my lands to get to the capital, and if I'm going to do this I might as well actually do it. I have fifty warriors that can lend a hand."

"Good, now I think Jasper and I should marry now."

"Now? Right now?" Jasper exclaimed, looking mildly panicked at the prospect.

Olivia laughed. "Come now, Viola. Don't you want a big queenly wedding with a long white train and many, many jewels."

"We'll have far too much to do after we succeed to waste time with a fancy wedding. We'll have to have a coronation celebration once things are settled. I can wear a gorgeous bejeweled dress then," Viola said.

"Well we aren't going to do this tonight," Olivia said. "But if you two want to be wed tomorrow we can do that. I have more important things to do."

Olivia stood up and looked around. "My tent is over here. Should we set up another tent for Leilah, or—"

"Excuse me, your highness. I set up a tent for Leilah and I already," Sara said, coming up next to the them.

Olivia smiled widely, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "What is this your highness nonsense? Oh, Sara it is lovely to see you. I'd like to put Leilah to bed myself, but I appreciate your willingness to sleep with her."

Sara smiled slyly, reassured by Olivia's words. "Well, I guessed that as much as you missed your daughter, you might not want to share a tent with her tonight."

Olivia laughed heartily, and Liam noticed that most of the people in the camp turned to look at her, surprise on their faces. She moved into the tent Sara had set up, and Liam smiled as he heard the K'miri lullaby she had sung to their daughter everyday before she'd left. At last, she came out from the tent and put out her hand to his. She led him back to her own tent, flicking a finger and sending a silencing spell stretching across the tent walls once they were inside.

For a long moment, the two just stared at each other. To Liam, it felt as though the air around them crackled, pressure increasing until at last they were both forced to close the gap between them and brought their lips together, hands desperately dragging of each other's clothes. They tore at laces and buttons, impatient with any impediment to what they wanted. Liam pushed her down on the bedroll insistently, pulling off her loincloth roughly, and at last managed to push deep into her. She gasped, and they both slowed down, content for the moment. They made eye contact as they matched each other's rhythm perfectly, and Liam pulled her up, closer to him, so she straddled him as he sat back. She leaned forward and kissed him gently, sweetly.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear as she moved against him.

"I love you, too sweet," he replied, voice husky with desire. He placed his hands on her hips and pulling her even closer to him. Liam watched her face as she leaned back slightly, changing the angle and speeding up the flicks of her hips just enough to tip them both over the edge. When they'd finished, Olivia leaned her forehead against Liam's shoulder, and he slid her arms around her, keeping her pressed close against him. "I've missed you so much."

"I've miss you too, ohmi," she replied, kissing his neck. "Horse lords, I have missed you."

"Beyond just missing you for all the other reasons that I love you, I can't _believe_ that I went two and a half years without doing that," he said.

She laughed. "I know. I had been thinking we couldn't possibly have been as good at this as I remembered, but you know, I do believe we are even better then I remembered."

"I think we are probably better at this then anybody ever," Liam replied, leaning her back against the floor, and kissing her. "But I think we may need to do it again, just to make sure that wasn't a fluke."

------

Review! I can't believe that I am almost done....or that this took me sooo long.


	46. Chapter 46

Liam woke up slowly, confused by the warm body pressed along him. He opened his eyes, saw red hair, and smiled as he remembered where he was. He kissed the top of Olivia's head, and she turned in his arms without waking. He looked down at her, tracing over her features that were at once familiar and foreign. She looked peaceful as she slept, none of the tension that had filled her every look and movement the last few times he talked to her was present. She began to wake slowly as the sun rose, stretching against him, his body still responding to her unconscious movements despite their numerous couplings through out the night. She blinked her eyes slowly, curling back into him.

"Hey you," he whispered.

"Hey you," she replied with a smile, tilting her head up for a kiss.

He followed her lead, but when she reached her hand down under the bedroll, he stopped her. "I hate to say this, but we have to put our clothes on. Leliah will be demanding a place in our bed soon."

"Really?" Olivia asked. "Have you been spoiling her?"

"Only a little. Alright, maybe a lot," Liam admitted.

Olivia laughed, reaching for her clothes, and tossing some over to him. Once they were dressed, Liam sat back down and pulled Olivia into his lap, kissing her gently. "I really thought that you were going to be mad that I brought Leilah."

Olivia laughed. "Your turn to be a dolt. I was planning to bring her here at one point, remember? She'll be safe. We know how to protect our children. If I were going to be mad, it would be that you are risking yourself. I don't want our daughter to end up an orphan, but that kind of risk is just who we are. There's no getting around it."

Liam nodded, kissing her neck. "She won't lose either of us if I have anything to do with it."

Olivia leaned back as he continued kissing along her neck. She gasped as he kissed a particularly sensitive spot right above her collarbone, and he took that as an invitation to pull her shirt out of her breeches and slide a hand up over her ribs. He was teasing his fingers under the edge of her breastband, when he heard Leilah yell, "Appa," and the pitter patter of her feet come running towards the tent. Liam yanked his hand out from under Olivia's shirt, and she hurriedly tucked it back in to her pants.

Leilah burst in, jumping on Liam in joy. "Appa, Appa, I thought it was a dream, but we're here."

Olivia smiled, reaching out a hand to Leilah who happily clamored into her mother's lap. "Mama," she harped happily, burying herself into Olivia's chest.

"Oh, baby girl I have missed you so," Olivia whispered, cuddling her close. She sighed and stood up. "Time to get up and plan a war."

"Fun. Fun," Leilah said.

Olivia cocked an eyebrow at Liam. "She thinks planning wars is fun?"

"She and Linko play a complicated game of "war" that involves many pillows, wooden swords and Roald and I having to buy them new dolls at least once a month because their old one's are missing legs and sometimes heads," Liam said.

Olivia rolled her eyes and walked out of the tent. "Lovely."

Liam followed his wife and daughter out into the camp, actually taking a good look around. He was impressed by the orderliness of the camp; even Lord Wyldon would have trouble keeping a camp with this many families perfectly organized. Buri and Raoul were already up, talking easily to a few K'mir whom Liam assumed were the elders, along with Lord Gersham, Max and Clarissa. Jasper and Viola stood a little the side talking in hushed voices, while Viola tapped her foot impatiently, her hands on her hips.

"Viola is certainly a personality," Liam said to Olivia.

Olivia grinned. "She's perfect. I never would really have felt comfortable leaving Jasper here alone without her. She was always my favorite of the noblewomen my age. She just put herself out there. She knew that her way to power was through a smart marriage, and she was always scheming. Her father doesn't like court life though he does well enough, but he isn't very important in court. She wanted to marry into real power and wealth, and she studied fashion and flirty conversation with as much zeal as you study battle strategies to attain her goals. But she and Jasper always had a bit of something. By that I mean they fight all the time, but actually enjoy the fighting, not that either of them would admit it. She'll balance out his scholarliness, and bring a nice practical, political edge into things. Come on, I need to introduce you to the elders."

Liam let her lead him over and introduce him to all of elders. He was distracted by a K'miri man sitting on the far side of the elders, who was looking him over with deep suspicion. Once she'd gotten through the elders, Olivia gestured to the man and said, "And this is Kemeriam Daransmar."

The name clicked in Liam's head. During one of their questions games early in their friendship, Olivia had asked him which of his conquests he would marry if he'd had to. After a long thought process, he'd finally decided on Lady Marinde, discarding Korintha because he didn't want to marry someone in love with someone else. He'd asked her, and she'd promptly said Kemeriam. Further questions had revealed that he was her first love, though it was brief. He was older then she by a good five or six years, and he'd turned her head when she was fifteen. She told Liam she'd mistaken great sex and respect for deep love and had been mildly devastated when he returned to live with the tribe, leaving her behind. She'd also admitted that still slept together occasionally when he came into the city.

Liam nodded his head to the man, who slowly nodded in return.

"Ahmi, where did you put those maps of Lord Gersham's fief?" Kemeriam asked Olivia. Liam frowned, not knowing for sure what Ahmi meant, but having a fairly good guess. Olivia gestured to a pile of papers.

Liam leaned forward and whispered in Olivia's ear, "Does Ahmi mean what I think it does?"

Olivia slid her free arm around his waist and kissed him gently. "I married you, ohmi."

Liam smiled. "So, you're telling me I won the war so there's no reason to pay attention to the calls for battle?"

Olivia shook her head and laughed. "I'm not even going to respond to that," she said in an exasperated tone.

Kemariam stretched the maps out on the ground, using small stones to hold them in place and motioning to everyone to gather round. Sara came forward to take Leilah from Olivia, and Liam and Olivia sat on the logs with the rest of the leaders as Kemariam outlined the defenses they would come up against and the lines of attack they had discussed.

"They have archers on the wall and a large contingent of guards that patrol outside the walls?" Buri asked.

Kemariam nodded, and Liam grimaced and glanced at Raoul and Buri, who were both frowning as they considered the map.

"We'll get caught between them if they're smart," Liam said, voicing their thoughts. "They'll have warning we are coming, and they could gather the foot patrol and come at us from behind. It'll hard to get over the wall with people on both sides of us."

"There's no easy way for us to deal with them beforehand. The point of those guards is that they don't have any standard way of moving. We can't anticipate where they will be," Olivia said.

"We could try and pull a King Maggot," Raoul said slowly.

Liam nodded. "I agree. That's really the only way. If we could draw those guards off by a side fight of some sort with a small part of our forces, then we could send the main force at our walls. If we only send the K'miri fighters, they won't be expecting a second attack from the forces we though."

"How are we going to start another fight? Attack a random townhouse? We can't just attack the walls at two points. It's too small," Kemariam said.

Olivia grinned. "I have an idea for that. We can make it seem like we are trying to capture Kendra. She leaves the walls now and then. She likes to go to balls thrown by merchants because they fuss over her. Her maid is a spy for us. I'll get her to let me know when Kendra is planning to leave. We send a small K'miri force to hit her carriage when it is outside the walls in the roving guards range. They'll go to her, and we can hit the wall."

"We should split our force into three groups. We have enough to do it. We'll want a second set to come behind the guards and finish them off, and then they can join the main fight when they're done," Liam said.

"That would work well," Kemariam admitted grudgingly. "The area the carriage passes through is partially wooded. We can send a few fighters in to hit the carriage, hold more in the forest for when the guard's arrive and then send the rest of the force out. Meanwhile, your people can move in on the wall."

"What do we do with Kendra?" Jasper asked.

"Just tie her up and leave her there," Liam said. "And make sure you gag her too."

"What are we going to do with her?" Olivia whispered. "She's not a threat exactly, since Sarain won't stand for a female ruler, but if she marries her husband might try to claim the throne."

"We'll deal with that when that comes," Kemariam said firmly. "Your prince is right. We'll take her captive for now and deal with what needs to be done later. Perhaps we can send her into exile."

Olivia shook her head. "She could gather a force anywhere she was. Clearly, princesses' marrying in foreign countries lends itself to rebellion. We'll have to execute her, or keep her imprisoned. Those are the only truly viable choices."

Liam looked at her, and despite not really expecting anything else from her, he couldn't help but wonder yet again about how coolly logical she could be. She voiced the thoughts everyone else pushed to the back of their minds because they didn't want to deal with them. But as he examined her expression and watched her play with the material on her breeches, he saw for the first time what that cost her. She'd had to be coolly logical too many times over the past two years, and the strain was starting to show. No matter how horrible Kendra was, she and Olivia had grown up together, and Olivia knew what would had to happen to Kendra if they succeeded. Liam reached over and placed his hand on Olivia's, squeezing it gently to communicate his support. She smiled at him, and then asked Raoul about breaching the wall, putting all emotion aside and making the necessary decisions to win her war.

----

Sorry it took so long. Will try to keep pace up. I would say we have five chapters left though, max, so pretty soon it should be all wrapped up. Review and let me know what you think!!


	47. Chapter 47

The camp was tense after the decisions had been announced. Everyone knew this was the last stand. As the days passed and they waited for word of when Kendra would leave the castle, Jasper and Olivia in particular walked around as though the weight of the world was on their shoulders. Finally, a letter arrived from Olivia's spy, telling her that Kendra planned to leave in a week's time for a ball thrown by one of the local merchants. Olivia announced the date of the siege to the camp, helped the elders on commanders pinpoint the road Kendra would take, and the woods surround the road. Once the decisions had been made, Olivia got up from the circle and walked out into the woods. When she hadn't returned by the time the sun began to set, Liam left Leilah with Sara and went in search of her. He found her deep in the woods firing arrow after arrow into a tree.

"I'm glad to see you finally cured yourself of that habit of dropping your elbow," Liam said.

Olivia turned dropping the bow slowly and smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"Talk to me," Liam said quietly, walking over to stand close to her.

Olivia sighed and motioned to a large stone. Liam followed her over and sat on it, putting his arm loosely around her waist.

"I'm terrified," Olivia said, her voice soft. "We have worked for this for so long. My mother used to tell me to hold on to my spirit, I told you that, but she also told me that my duty was to bring peace to Sarain. My duty was to get Jasper on that throne. I've known since I was still in the cradle what I have to do. I know I never went into all of this, but Liam, Jasper and I were prophesized, or so they say. The K'miri have told this story for generations; they say it happened hundreds of years ago. A seer said that only a half-K'mir, raised as the son and by of the King, with the assistance of his family and his people could bring about peace in Sarain. Many thought that your grandmother would birth that son, but your mother was born instead. Personally, I think it's a tale made up to keep us going no matter how dark it gets, but the truth is that the entire K'miri race believes that we are their one and only chance. It doesn't even matter if Jasper is the prophesized one, or if that seer really even existed. They believe he is their last hope. We have to succeed. We have to."

"You can only do what you can do, Olivia. That's all you can do," Liam replied, kissing the top of her head. "It's a good plan. You've given yourself the best chances possible."

Olivia looked up at him and smiled, kissing him softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Liam said, kissing her again.

Olivia broke away and leaned her head against his chest. "I'm also terrified of losing you, or my other loved one's. It seems impossible that we will all make it through this alive. You were right before. My mother always said my duty was to get Jasper on that throne; I never really considered my life after that point, so I suppose I had accepted I would die. But now, I have so much to live for. You, Leilah, and Tortall even. Tortall is home in way Sarain just never was. I fit there. There are things I could do there. Even if Jasper succeeded, I would never be allowed to fight. I would have spent all of my time at the same court that I had despised all my life, but now I have a home and a family. And I can't lose you Liam. I just can't. Promise me you'll be careful."

"I'm not going anywhere Olivia. My chances in Scanra were a lot lower than our chances here. I made it so far. And I've seen the Prince Zander. I could definitely beat him."

Olivia looked up with him quizzically. "And that explains what exactly."

"I really don't like him."

Olivia laughed. "Oh, ohmi. There are some days where I think I will never understand your brain."

Liam kissed her. "You'll have many, many years to figure me out," he said quietly, stroking her face. "We've made it this far. We'll make it the rest of the way."

"Promise?" she asked, reminding him of Leilah. In response, Liam took her hand and put it on his chest, covering it with his own.

"I promise."

Olivia smiled. "How did that start?"

Liam shrugged. "I used to promise her I'd come back when I left on missions. I'm not really sure when we got the whole ritual down, but it works. She seems to find it reassuring."

Olivia touched his face and cocked her head. "You never fail to surprise me, ohmi. You are such a good father. I knew you would be, but I never would have guessed you'd be like this. I really never would have guessed it when I first met you. You were always so cold, and now you're nothing but warmth."

"You once told me that I had changed you, Olivia. And I see it, everyday. You have changed. I wasn't the only one who was cold when we first met. But do you think you didn't change me? I thought I didn't want this. I wanted to fight my wars and be left in peace. No connections to people other than my soldiers and perhaps my brother. If Tortall needed me to have a wife, I'd have one, but I didn't want to love her. I didn't want that dragging me down. And, you know, I never even considered children. The thought never occurred to me beyond a passing assumption that I'd have a couple. Continue the line or what have you. But you changed all of that."

Olivia looked down. "Do you regret it? I've certainly dragged you down."

Liam lifted her chin and made her look at him. "Do you?"

Olivia shook her head, and Liam smiled. "Me neither. No matter how hard it gets, I would never change what happened between us for anything. I had no idea when I made my plans to stay separate from everyone that I'd be missing something so wonderful."

Liam kissed her again and stood. He pulled her up behind. "Come on, Olivia. Let's go back to the camp."

---

I know this is short, but I wanted it to stand alone. I was reading the first few chapters and thinking how much they've changed, and I wanted to address it for some reason. I was trying to decide if I thought the change was believable, and can't quite make up my mind. Thoughts on this? Did I have them change too much, or too fast, or did it feel natural? Anyways, review about whatever you like because I love them so very much. Please?


	48. Chapter 48

"Olivia, get down," Liam shouted, seeing an arrow flying at her. A large soldier appeared before him, blocking his view of Olivia. He swung his sword up to stop the other man's blow. Desperately, he tried to make his way past the man to get to Olivia. She could be injured and need help. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pila hit the ground, a sword plunged straight through her belly. Liam managed to kill the soldier before him, looking around wildly for his wife as the man fell to the floor next to him. He ran towards where he'd last seen her, tripping over Buri along the way. He leaned down to feel for Buri's pulse, but paused when he heard Olivia shout.

"Liam!" she shouted again, obviously in pain. He turned, looking around wildly. "Liam!" He followed her voice desperately, stumbling as he ran, dodging enemy soldiers.

"Olivia," he cried out sprinting down the marble hall. He tripped over bodies as he ran, but forced himself to continue, not pausing to see which side the bodies belonged to or if his friends were among them, though he thought he glimpsed Sandra's blond curls.

"Appa." Was that Leilah? Where was she? "Appa?" Leilah cried out again. Liam paused hearing both Olivia and Leilah cry out for him, the sounds echoing from opposite sides of the hallways. After a moment's hesitation, he turned and ran towards Leilah's voice.

A hand reached out and grabbed his ankle. "Help me," Hakim begged, his face bruised and bloody. The snow was starting to fall, turning pink as it absorbed the blood from the ground.

"Ohmi." There was Olivia's voice again, but she sounded calm now. "Ohmi."

Liam sat up with a gasp, sweat pouring off his body.

"Hush, ohmi. You're safe," Olivia whispered, kneeling behind him and wrapping her arms around him. She kissed him softly on the neck, and Liam tried to slow his breathing. "Horse lords, Liam. You're shaking. Do you have these nightmares often?"

"Now and then," Liam replied.

"I thought you stopped having nightmares from Scanra."

Liam paused before answering her, turning to wrap his arms around her. He tried to dispel the images, focusing on the sound of her breathing and her heart beat against his chest.

"I had, but when you left they started again," he finally said. "Sometimes I'm in Scarna, sometimes I'm here. You're in them now too. Leilah was this time too. That was a first."

Olivia kissed his temple, her concern clear. "Do you want me to bring her in here?"

Liam shook his head. "I'll go check on her and be right back. Go back to sleep, Olivia. We have a big day tomorrow. I'll be back in a moment."

"Are you sure?" Olivia said, sounding unsure. She touched his cheek. "You're still clammy. I can come with you. I don't mind, ohmi."

Liam managed a smile. "I'll only be a moment. Sleep."

Liam left the tent and made his way quickly to where Leilah slept. He crept quietly into her tent, kneeling down next to her small bedroll. He touched her black curls gently, reassuring himself that her breathing was deep and heavy and she was safe. He kissed her forehead gently before leaving the tent. Once outside, he breathed in deeply, letting the cool air wash over him. His heart was still pounding erratically, and when he stretched his hands out in front of him they shook.

"You have aransadmas." Kemariam's voice came out of the darkness.

"Excuse me," Liam said politely, stuffing his hands into his pockets and silently cursing. A hostile ex-lover of his wife was exactly what he didn't want to deal with at that moment.

"It's a K'miri word. Translated into Common, it means something like blood weight. I believe the more common term is nightmares, but our word refers specifically to those that come from battle."

Liam shrugged, not wishing to expose himself to this man.

"I have them as well. Most warriors do."

Liam looked at him, his surprise clear. "Why would you tell me that?" Liam asked, still too shook from the dream to bother hiding what he was thinking.

"Because she needs you to be strong," Kemariam said quietly. "She needs you to be sure of yourself. She has allowed herself to lean on someone. To lean on you. She needs you to stay strong."

"You don't have to worry about me, Kemariam. I have dealt with far worse then this."

"I know. She told me about Scanra. There is no shame in the dreams that must arise from something like that. That's what I meant to say. All warriors have them."

"Thank you," Liam said quietly. "I'm not ashamed. I just had never had them with her there, and that's probably the worst one I ever had. I wasn't prepared for it. And you're wrong, not all warriors have them. She doesn't."

Kemariam laughed. "She's steel. There is no one like her. I've never seen so much control in a person."

"It's true. She's quite a woman."

"She couldn't have done this without you. Well, she could have, but it would have destroyed her. She buries everything so deep down, and she's bringing down those that raised her. She would have become a shell, except she can share things with you. Things she never shared with anyone. That's what will pull her through this. You got her to open up," Kemariam said, his bitterness clear.

Liam turned to look Kemariam in the eye for the first time, considering his words. "That's why you left her," he said slowly. "That's why you returned to the tribe."

"One day I woke up in her bed, and she wasn't there. I searched and searched and I finally found her, staring at a portrait of her mother. I touched her shoulder, and she flinched away. She just said, I'm fine. And the thing was, she sounded fine. But it was before dawn and she was staring at her mother's portrait. How could she be fine? But she just blocked me out with such ease. We'd been sleeping together for months. I loved her completely, and yet I couldn't tell by the tone of her voice if there was anything wrong with her. I knew I was never going to get through, and I would always want more from her then what she would give. So I left."

"She told me about you. Before we started sleeping with each other. She did love you. In her way."

"But you made her love you all the way. And I am sure you deserve that love. She's too logical to love someone who didn't deserve it."

"You didn't always feel that way."

"I wanted to hate you. I wanted to believe she married you just because you got her pregnant. I wanted to believe you hadn't reached her. But I saw you go after her in the woods, and I saw the look on her face when she came back. She trusts you. Trusts you enough to open up and tell you what she feels. You are a lucky man, and she's lucky to have you."

"Thank you," Liam said quietly, surprised but pleased that the other man had decided to give up the anger toward Liam he'd carried around since Liam had arrived.

"I should let you return to your bed roll."

"Good night, Kemariam."

As Liam walked back to Olivia's tent, he realized that during his conversation with Kemariam his hands had stopped shaking and his heart rate had steadied. He slipped into the bedroll with Olivia silently, managing not to wake her. Before closing his eyes, he watched her sleep. She looked peaceful as she slept. He prayed to every god and goddess he could think of to keep her safe before closing his eyes and allowing sleep to come.

----

As always, I'm struggling with the battle scene a little. I mainly stuck this in here just so I could tell you it will come soon. It's just I've put so much into this story as is, I can't bring myself to end it unless I really do it right, so it may take awhile. Don't worry though. Eventually I'll get it done. In the meantime, review!

Also, I've decided to start responding to reviews at the end of my chapters. I've seen other authors do it, and I think it's a neat thing to do, and since I appreciate reviews so much I'm going to start doing it with all my stories. I'm also hoping it will encourage more people to review, since my reviews have dropped off some the last few chapters. Obviously, it's impractical to do it with all 296 I've gotten for this story, so I'll just start with last chapter, and if you review this chapter I promise to respond in my next one.

**Student of Words: **I'm glad you thought they still seemed somewhat like the same characters. And thank you for always reviewing all of my stories. I really appreciate it!

**Naera: **I'm glad you liked the ritual! I was trying to figure out a good way to show briefly that the two of them were close, and so I'm pleased that you liked it.

**Amie: **Thanks for letting me know that the pace seemed good. I fret about it with my stories a lot, so it is nice to be reassured.


	49. Chapter 49

"Be careful," Liam said quietly to Olivia. The group was about to split, and Olivia was off to attack Kendra's carriage, leaving Liam with his people to move on the wall.

Olivia grinned up at him, a dangerous sort of looseness to her that Liam had never seen before. "Don't worry, Liam. I won't let that brat and her guards get me. I've got a lot of people who need to pay for what they've done, and she's just the first."

Liam grabbed her arm as she turned to walk away, forcing her to look at him so he could inspect her face. There was a fire in her eyes, a recklessness that he'd never seen before. "What is wrong with you?" he demanded.

Olivia shrugged. "The time for thinking is over. I don't have to think anymore. I've dreamed of this day for a very long time."

Liam frowned, but let it got, instead leaning down to kiss her. He held her close, cupping her face as he kissed her. Reluctantly, he released her. "Be careful," he reiterated. "I love you."

Olivia's face softened slightly, and she gave him a real smile in return for his words. "I love you too, ohmi. I won't do anything stupid, I promise, but I swear by the K'miri gods I will make those who have wronged me, my family and my people pay today, if it is the last thing I do."

Liam nodded, understanding but not liking her sentiments. A bird call rang out, signaling that Kendra's carriage had left the palace walls, and Olivia turned and mounted Beauty. She leaned down and kissed Liam swiftly before she and Buri led the K'mir to the carriage.

"She'll be alright, Liam," Raoul said, coming up to stand next to him. "The K'mir love her as much as your men love you. They'll protect her."

"I know." Liam sighed and mounted his horse, motioning to the others to do the same and his force silently picked their way through the forest to the castle walls. They waited in the trees until they saw the guards rush past them. As soon as the guards were out of sight, they moved quickly towards the east gate.

They had the element of surprise, and met little resistance. The archers from the walls took down a few of the Tortallans as they rode in, but the guards were slow to close the gates, and Liam's soldiers knew to pick off those controlling the large wheel first. Some of the guards lined up outside, a few on horseback, but Raoul and Liam were able to defeat them with ease, none of the guards as experienced with mounted battle as those two were.

Liam was facing the last mounted guard when he saw Olivia and the K'mir appear on their left. They moved in on the footed guards from the side, causing confusion and allowing Pila and the squad of men made up largely of his surviving Scanran soldiers to push through to the gate, fighting the foot soldiers back from the controlling wheel.

Liam tracked Olivia out of the corner his eye, though he kept most of his attention on the burly guard before him. He lost sight of her as she moved closer to the gate, swearing silently to himself and just barely bringing his shield up to block the guard's broadsword. Lady Knight Keladry had once told him that Lord Wyldon suggested she shouldn't be a knight because as a woman she'd become distracted once she fell in love and would be a danger to herself and others. Liam actually had to hold back a laugh as he steered his stallion with his knees to move closer to the guard. Lord Wyldon should have given him that speech. Liam finally killed the last mounted guard, or at least sent him toppling off his horse by catching him in the side of the head with his war hammer. The man clearly hadn't expected him to be able to wield a weapon with both hands. He moved towards the gate, concern growing as he realized that despite pushing the guards within the walls deeper into the castle and keeping the guards on the grounds back from the gate, his soldiers still hadn't managed to raise it.

"Highness, they've destroyed the wheel," Pila shouted up at him as he neared. "I can't tell what they've done exactly, but we won't be able to move the gate easily."

Liam dismounted, making himself a smaller target as he stared through the gate at the wheel that controlled it. Sure enough, it looked bashed in. The guards were beginning to gather in the square, though many were still up along the wall.

Olivia rode up next to him flanked by Max and Kemariam. "Get that gate open," she shouted impatiently. "They'll flee through the servants doors."

"It won't budge," Liam replied.

Olivia swore and dismounted, inspecting the gate. They guards were now beginning to leave the courtyard, but she continued to peer through the gate through the narrow hallway that held only the machinery of the wheel. Before he could ask her what she was thinking, he heard a shout from behind him. He turned and saw a wave of guards coming at them. They must have come out of the courtyard from a side gate.

"Line up. I want two lines now," he shouted. "Circle the gate."

His soldiers snapped to at his words, following his orders efficiently and using the wall to protect their backs. He chanced a glance back at Olivia, just in time to see her sneak under the gate and sprint down the hall. His muttered every curse he knew and moved to follow her, but stopped himself, glancing at his men.

"Max, Kemariam," he shouted, causing the two men to look back at him. "Olivia went under the gate and in. Go after her. We'll handle the guards."

The two sprinted to the gate immediately, followed closely by several K'mir, Mae and Clarissa. He sent up a brief prayer to any listening gods to keep her safe as he turned to face the onslaught of guards. He regretted getting off his horse, and focused on staying on his feet as he fought off guard after guard. There were more guards then they'd anticipated, he thought tiredly. The King must not have been as lulled into safety by the false news of Jasper's death as they had hopped.

Raoul brought half their army in on one side, and Buri and the remaining K'mir warriors attacked from the other side, boxing in the guards and thankfully creating some panic.

"Push forward," Liam shouted. "Slowly. Hold your line, but move forward."

He braced himself behind his shield, and pressed forward, dodging one sword blow only to feel a sharp pain in his knee. He bit his lip, ignoring the pain and catching the next sword blow from the guard who'd managed to slice open his knee with his shield. He killed the man quickly, and stole a glance down the line, checking to see that his orders were obey. A spear came at him, and he returned his focus to the force in front of him. The rest of battle passed in a blur. It seemed at once to be unendingly long, but abruptly it ended as the last of the guards outside the wall surrendered.

Buri and Raoul both dismounted and walked over to Liam as the men tied up the guards.

"Where's Olivia?" Buri asked.

"She, Max and Kemariam went under the gate and in. Mae and Clarissa did as well, and some of the K'mir." Liam replied, breathing heavily.

Raoul frowned. "We need to get this gate open. We should keep most of the men out here, but send small groups out to search through the castle and bring in anyone willing to surrender and take care of everyone else."

Liam nodded absently. "I would kill to have Numair or Alanna here. They could blast it open. We'll have to leverage it, which will take awhile to build."

Raoul beckoned over several men, instructing them to find the materials to get the gate open.

Korintha walked over. "Are we waiting out here?" she demanded.

Liam sighed. "I don't like leaving a party that small alone in there," he said. "Besides, if they don't find the King and he gets away, we are in trouble. We don't know all of the exits out of that castle."

"I'm going in," Korintha said firmly. "The rest of the K'mir won't wait long either."

"Go," Buri said to Liam. "We'll take care of things on this end."

Liam nodded, ducking under the gate, careful of his knee. Korintha and the other K'mir followed quickly behind him.

"Where are we going?" Korintha asked as they walked into the eerily empty courtyard.

"I have no idea," Liam replied.

Korintha scowled at him. "You aren't supposed to admit that."

"Do any of you know the castle?" Liam asked, looking back at the half-dozen K'mir who'd followed them under the gate.

"I do." A young woman taller than most K'mir walked forward. Liam inspected the blond sheen of the top layer of her hair and guessed she had at least one relative who wasn't a K'mir. "We can get to the wing that held the royal rooms this way."

Liam nodded to her. "Take the lead."

She directed them through a low door, and the winded their way through what could only be servants' quarters. She kept a quick pace, and Liam found himself keeping up with difficulty. His whole body ached, and unlike the K'mir, his heavy armor weighed him down. He was tempted to remove it, but it would take too much time. At last, they exited out a narrow corridor into a wide, well-decorated hall.

"This is the royal wing," the woman said quietly.

They walked forward, until Korintha called out softly. "Do you hear that?"

Liam signaled them all to halt, and listened. He knew from experience how good Korintha's hearing was. Distantly he heard the sounds of metal scraping on metal. "Armor?" he mouthed at Korintha.

She nodded, and he motioned her to take the lead. She listened carefully, her head cocked, then moved purposefully down the hall and opened a door carefully on the right. Liam motioned everyone to follow, and they took silent steps behind Korintha as she followed the noise. They ended up in a large entry room, and Kornitha paused. The room was silent, and Liam shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the number of doors that the enemy could go through.

Korintha took slow steps forward and jerked open one of the doors suddenly. Before she could even move, Liam saw a sword pass through her stomach and the person on the other side of the sword shouted. Guards poured out of two other doors, and Liam turned to block a sword blow, seeing Prince Zander leap over Korintha's body and sprint through another door.

Liam scowled, ducked another blow and kicked out, sending the guard he fought stumbling backwards into the two others. He took off running after Zander, determined to stop him form escaping. He forced himself to keep running, ignoring the tiredness of his muscles, the throbbing of his knee and the searing feeling in his lungs. Zander had given up any pretence of quietness, his rattling armor sounding down the hallways. He caught him at last, sprinting through a study. Zander spun suddenly, hoping to surprise Liam, but Liam was prepared, fending off his sword blow. Liam circled him carefully, trying to act mostly defensively as he evaluated his own strength and Zander's. The run had taken away a lot of what he had left, and he knew he was at a disadvantage as they continued to exchange blows.

Liam tried to minimize his movements. He was tired, and his knee throbbed constantly, he could feel the blood sticky and dried, soaked completely through his pant leg and still bleeding. He'd injured his shoulder without realizing it, and quickly realized as they fought that he couldn't lift his left arm above his head. He'd glibly told Olivia he could beat Prince Zander the night before, and it was true. If they'd met in a civilized duel, Prince Zander never would have won, but Liam had been battling for hours and Zander had hidden behind his guards the whole time. Hidden in his rooms like a coward and let his men die. And now, Liam's logical inner voice told him, Zander was going to win. His cowardice would pay off. Liam didn't have the strength or the stamina to finish this fight.

Liam blocked another of Zander's blow, stumbling as he was forced to put all of his weight on his bad knee. He cursed as Zander used his advantage, hacking down at Liam's head. Liam raised his sword up, forced to use only one arm and praying to Mithros that he'd be able to hold off Zander's blow. He got lucky. Zander came in at a poor angle, allowing Liam to angle his sword in response so the blow glanced off. Liam forced himself to stand and back away quickly, his vision swimming as he moved.

He blocked another blow and another, and he kept thinking over and over that he was going to die. He was going to die at the end of the sword of a man he personally loathed, a man who'd taunted his wife for her K'miri blood. encouraged his father to confine her to the castle and tried to force her into marriage with one of his conservative friends, and who'd thrust a sword through Korintha's belly without a single thought to honor and facing one's opponent. It didn't matter though. Northing mattered anymore. As the fight dragged on, Liam realized he was just too tired. Too tired to care.

His vision swam again as he ducked another swing by Zander, another blow following close behind.

_Appa, don't go._ _Don't worry baby girl; I'll be back. Promise, Appa. I promise._

Liam gritted his teeth and yanked his sword up, his left shoulder popping with the effort, but he stopped Zander's blow and pushed back with all of his might. He forced himself to refocus on the fight and ignore his body's protests. Zander's eyes widened as Liam slid his sword out and danced to the side, ignoring the pain in his leg as lunged at Zander. Zander blocked the blow, but just barely, stumbling backwards desperately as Liam swung at him again.

Zander dodged and scrambled backwards, widening the distance between him and Liam as they both eyed each other, waiting to see who would strike first. Liam watched Zander move, easily sweeping aside a slow strike by Zander as he mulled over his options. He'd watched Zander on the practice court many at time. He could probably disarm him without killing him. And then what? Olivia's cool voice said. Mistaking Liam's failure to strike again as further weakening, Zander lunged forward and Liam made a snap decision. He lunged to the side leaving Zander to stumble forward, and hacked down, sending his sword deep into Zander's neck. He yanked his sword up, and Zander fell to the ground. Liam flipped him over with his foot, sparing a moment to glance down at the dead man before limping down the hall.

Liam moved through the halls listening to hear signs of fighting, trying to figure out where his people were, where Olivia was. They'd run for so long that he'd lost complete track of where he'd been and his efforts to retrace his route led him to a dead end. Eventually, the throbbing in his leg became unbearable. He looked down one hallway and saw a stone bench. He limped over to it, biting back a groan as he sat on it. He tore strips from the base of his shirt and wrapped them around the wound on his knee, tightening it painfully in hopes of stopping the blood loss and supporting his leg. Once he'd finished, he leaned back against the stone wall and looked up. For a moment he thought his mother was standing in front of him, but he realized he was in the portrait hall, and in front of him was a portrait of his grandmother and his grandfather. She was lovely, and you could see the poise in her. Liam inspected her for long moments, the quality of the artist allowing him to see the acceptance and determination in the way Kalasin stood. His sister was aptly named. They even held themselves the same way, though Kally never looked restricted the way she did.

His eyes roamed slightly, until they settled on a portrait that could only be Olivia's mother. He'd assumed that she looked much like Alanna, but he couldn't have been more wrong. There was a same fierceness in both of them, and those large violet eyes, but otherwise there was little similarity. Her skin was the same golden color as Buri's but she was slender, wiry muscle, each muscle portrayed by the artist tensed, ready to spring. And the expression on her face could only be described as wild. The rage in her eyes bordered on madness. She was magnificent and terrifying, and as he glanced back at his own grandmother he realized despite all appearances to the contrary, the looks of each of them held the same force of courage and will, though Kalasin had none of the crazed tension of Leilah. K'miri women had given up much in this castle, but it could all end now.

Liam groaned and hauled himself up, limping but relieved to feel that the pain had lessened. He was walking down the hall, when he heard a voice. "There you are. I found Zander's body and guessed that was your work."

Turning, Liam saw Max, Mae, Clarissa, Kemariam and a few other K'miri warriors. Involuntarily, Liam glanced at Leilah's portrait, and Max looked up at it too. Sadness washed over his features, and a deep anger that matched the emotion portrayed on his wife's face. "She would have liked you, eventually. She probably would have made your life hell for awhile though, until she realized Olivia will have more freedom and happiness with you then she'd ever have here," Max finally said, breaking the silence. "Come. We need to find Olivia. She went off after the king."

"Alone?"

Max nodded. "We got bogged down by a few guards. She was worried that the King and Queen would escape. Once she saw we'd be able to finish them off she slipped through a servant door. I don't know where she went."

"Do you know how they would have tried to escape?"

"Let's go this way," Max said, motioning down one of the halls. He took holding of one of Liam's arms, helping Liam support his weight. "Do you need a healer? I can't have you dying on my baby girl. She needs you alive and well at the end of all this."

"I'm fine," Liam said. "The bleeding stopped and I can put weight on it if necessary."

"Alright, but I mean it. Don't you go and die."

The group walked quickly, Liam determined to keep up with them. Kemariam stopped abruptly. "Hush," he said. "Do you hear that?"

There was silence for the moment then the distinctive clang of metal weapons coming together. Without hesitation, Liam took off running after the sound, guessing that in the state she'd been in Olivia would to take on any number of guards to get to the King. The others kept up, but Kemariam and Max sprinting easily ahead. Liam rounded a corner to see Olivia duck a guard's sword and spin, slamming a knife into the man's side. Olivia's discarded sword was in the middle of the hall; despite the fact that the sword was probably the safer weapon to use, she'd never grown completely comfortable with it. Though annoyed at her for taking on several swordsmen with knives, he couldn't be surprise. There had to be a dozen guards in the hall, two of them already at her feet. She'd managed to keep them from surrounding her, which was the only reason she'd survived as along as she had. Kemariam and Max were already next to her, standing shoulder to shoulder with her to fight off the guards.

Liam froze as he watched her. Catch a blow, return a blow. Over and over. She was still moving fluidly. Catch a blow, return a blow. She just never stopped. How was she still going? She looked as bad as he felt. Blood was pooling at her feet. Pooling at her feet, and yet she still moved. Catch a blow, return a blow. Liam was shook out his reverie when a guard moved between Olivia and another K'miri fighters. The fighters had rushed in, but in the process disrupted the line. The guards were able to get through and get behind them.

"Get in a line," he finally roared, perturbed by the mayhem before him into action. "It's less important that you all get a piece then that they don't get behind you. It's a hallway for Mithros' sake. They shouldn't be getting behind you."

He moved forward quickly, hacking down the first guard he reached with ease, and blocking a blow from a second. As the K'mir took on the guards, Liam noticed Olivia dodge through the guard line and spring off behind them. Liam swore, realizing what she was up to.

"Max," he called, lunging forward and ducking a blow to lean against the other man's shoulder. He jerked his head in the direction Olivia was running, and Max swore as well, seeing Olivia turn a corner at a full sprint.

Kemariam pushed through the line next to them, killing two guards quickly. "Go," he shouted. "We'll keep them from coming behind you."

Liam followed Max down the hall, forcing his throbbing knee to carry him at a run down the hallway. Max opened a door almost hidden behind an armor to reveal a long dark hallway. They heard a pounding noise coming from down the hall and ran towards it. At last they found Olivia desperately kicking at a heavy wooden door.

"Olivia, stop," Liam said. "Stop." He glanced at Max to see what he was thinking, but the man was still, staring at the door with an eerie look on his face.

Finally, he grabbed her and pulled her back. "Let me go," she shouted, struggling against him. "They're in there and they'll be getting away soon."

"Then let me get the door opened," Liam said.

"You can't use your magic. They have spells to prevent it," Olivia said, calming slightly.

"I had no intention of using my magic," he reached into his pocket and pulled out the lock picks that George had given to all of the children of their hodge-podge family years ago and kneeled down with some difficulty to the lock. It had been years since he'd picked one, but it didn't look like this one was too complicated. Olivia paced behind him as he worked, and Max stayed unmoving. It took him longer then it should of, and he could practically hear Aly sighing in playful exasperation when he made his first mistake, but eventually the lock clicked and he pushed the door open. He caught a glance of red skirt swishing through the side door, and a man who could only be the king was right behind her. Four guards stood at the door between them and their majesties.

Olivia reached down and hauled him up; she glanced at him and jerked her heads towards the guards moving towards them, and he nodded. They both moved forward quickly, blocking blows from the middle two guards, and using the shock off their speed to push a hole between the two of them that Max sprinted through. Max leapt over the sofa and the middle of the room and disappeared down the servants' hall after the king and queen. Olivia turned with her back to the side door, using her sword this time to block blows from all four guards. Liam heard noises from along the hall, and glanced in to see more guards running towards them. He slammed the door shut and locked it, looking around and seeing a large trunk, which he pushed in front of the door, biting back a groan as he was forced to put pressure on his bad leg. Once he'd finished, he attacked one of the guards, drawing two off them towards him. As hr killed the first of them, he saw the King stumble back into the room grasping a sword and panting. Max followed close behind him, a knife in each hand as he took careful measured steps towards the man, a wary eye on his sword.

He fended off another blow from the other guard, only to hear Olivia to give a sharp cry of pain. He glanced over and saw blood running down her side. He jabbed sharply at the guard, forcing him to stumble backwards and giving him time to move over to stand next to Olivia.

"I'm alright," she said, holding a hand to her side and continuing to fight off blows from both guards with her sword. Liam joined her, fighting off the three guards. Olivia managed to pierce one of them between his chest and arm plates, sending the man down to the ground. Liam and Olivia used their experience together to their advantage as they faced off the two guards. They both attacked both guards, relying on their knowledge of each other's strategies to keep them from bumping each other. The guards' confusion made them easy targets, and without two much difficulty, Olivia and Liam finished them off.

The guards dead at their feet, they turned to see Max still battling the King. Both were breathing heavily, and Max had a bloody wound on his arm. Liam moved forward to help, but Olivia grabbed his arm. "Don't," she said. "He needs to do this himself."

Liam nodded and put a hand on her side, healing the cut, which was deeper then she'd let on. He could feel her quivering tension as she watched her fathers battle. Liam shook his head slightly at the folly oh his thoughts. She only had one father, no matter what the royal record of Sarain said. He could hear fighting in the hall, and the distinctive sound of Kemariam's voice. It sounded as though the guards were surrendering.

Max stumbled slight as he avoided the King's sword, and Olivia took a step forward, but stopped, her free hand clenched in a fist and her knuckles white along the hand that gripped her sword. Liam stepped forward and took her free hand; she squeezed it, but never took her eyes off the fight before her, ready to move in if necessary. The king brought his sword downward from above his head, and Liam knew what would happen, his mind flashing to that first practice fight with Olivia. Max caught the sword easily between his two knives, trapping the sword above the king's head and leaving Max free to spin and kick the man hard in the side. The King fell back against the chair behind him, breaking the first rule of weapons fighting and dropping his sword in the process.

Max moved in quickly and mercilessly, grasping the King by the neck, pulling him close and sinking his knife deep into the King's chest, puncturing his lung. "Take this thought to your grave," Max hissed. "It is my son who will sit on the throne of Sarain. Not yours. It is my daughter who is a Princess of Tortall. Not yours. And Leilah was never yours."

The king gasped his last breath, and Max released him and took a step back. He stared down at the dead body of the man who destroyed his wife, his face thunderous.

"No," Lorinda's screech echoed across the room, and they all turned toward the sound. She brought an ax down straight into Max's side before any of them could react. Max fell to the ground in a heap, and Olivia moved in with lethal speed. She kicked aside her stepmother's next ax blow, heedless of any danger. She crouched and spun, easily sweeping the unbalanced Lorinda off her feet, laying the woman out flat on her back. Without hesitation, Olivia picked up the ax Lorinda had dropped and decapitated her in one swift blow. Not even bothering to glance at the woman who'd taken her mother's place as queen, she turned and crouched down next to Liam, who was already desperately pouring blue magic into Max.

"Appa," Olivia cried softly, adding her magic to Liam's as the blood flowed quickly between their fingers.

"Stop," Max whispered. He coughed, then continued. "Stop, baby girl. It's time. I've been waiting for this a long time."

Olivia swallowed and nodded, putting her hand over Liam's and pulling them back.

Liam began to protest, but bit his lip. Neither of them would be able to save him anyways. He was bleeding too much, and too many organs had been hit by the dead queen's blow.

"I love you, baby girl. And I'm so proud of you. You've made a good life for yourself. Liam, you take care of my little girl." Max coughed again, blood coming up this time. "Tell Jasper I love him. Tell him to rule smart. You did it, baby girl. I'm so proud of you."

"We did it, not me. You were with me every step of the way. I love you, Appa." Olivia said something in K'mir, and then held his hand, tears forming in her eyes but not falling as he coughed up more blood. His eye closed as he took one last breath, and then he was still. Olivia bit her lip and closed her eyes for one long moment before she released his hand and stood.

She walked to the door and pushed the trunk out of the way and turned the key in the lock. She opened it so suddenly Kemariam fell inside.

"Help me move his body," she said calmly, motioning to Max's body. "We can't leave him here with _them._" Kemariam paled, but nodded. He and several other of the K'mir walked in. Buri appeared in the doorway, a bloody bandage on her arm but otherwise alright.

"It's over," she said bluntly. She glanced at the wall, saw Max and grimaced slightly. She repeated the same phrase that Olivia had said earlier, and the rest of the K'mir echoed her as Kemariam and a few others lifted Max's body and carried him out of the room. Liam grasped Olivia's hands as the rest shuffled out in front of him. He squeezed her hands reassuringly and she grimaced and closed her eyes.

"I can't," she said softly the tears clear in her voice. "If I, now. I'll just."

"I know," Liam said softly. He kissed her gently. "You will cry for him when this is done. It is what he would have wanted. Come. We've got a lot to do before we truly finish this."

-------

So sorry it took so long. This was tough. Very, very tough. I hope you liked it. Only one, maybe two more chapters left. I will start up Zenobia 2 again once I finish this, but school now takes up a lot more time then it used to, so sadly my updating speeds are going to be much slower then they used to be. Now that this is done, it should be faster. Thanks for all your reviews and please keep it up!!!

**Viv Marius: **Thanks for the tips. That really helped, as did knowing that I wasn't the only one who struggled with them. Hope you like this!

**addicted2TPierce**: I'm glad you're still enjoying my story! Thanks for the review!

**Tischica: **They made it! Glad you love the story. That's great to read.

**Ally-Marty:** I really, really appreciated your comments. It was great to have someone with your perspective agree with what I as doing.

**bassbrat:** I hope this one makes your day too! Thanks for the review!

**studentofwords:** thanks for reviewing like always! sorry about the delay, but I hope your happy with it.

**sometimes:** thanks for reviewing! i'm glad you enjoy it!

**southernbelle61:** I'm glad you liked by story. A review like yours is always great to read, nad its cool that you noticed the Irish influences. I'm glad you think its original, since originality and believability are always the things that matter most to me.

**avchocaholic: **thanks for reviewing! i never abandon a story, but its nice to know people appreciate that!


	50. Chapter 50

Liam woke slowly, confused and disoriented. He reached for Olivia, but found the bed next to him cold. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking around but not seeing her. Quickly, he slipped out of bed and pulled on his clothes, glancing out the window to see the moon was still high in the sky. He muttered to himself as he dressed, annoyed that he hadn't expected this. Kendra had been executed yesterday, and it was Olivia who had convinced the advisors Jasper had assembled that it was what was necessary. He frowned, wondering where to look for her, and thought of Kemariam's story. He walked out of the Olivia's childhood room and through the passageways until he arrived at the portrait hall, but didn't see her. Next he tried the library, remembering her comment that it was one of the few rooms in the castle she actually liked. He didn't find her curled up in any of the secluded corner, so he left the castle, walking over the grounds to the graveyard dedicated to executed monarchs. Sarain had plenty, but he didn't see Olivia near the freshly dug grave where they had laid Max. Jasper had insisted he be buried there next to Leilah, and no one had dared object to a commoner's burial among the many former monarchs.

Finally, he walked to the stables, hoping she'd be with Beauty, but Beauty was gone. Liam sighed and saddled Casanova, cursing the fact that he had no idea where she would have gone to ride. He stroked his stallion's nose. "I don't suppose you know where she is," he said quietly. The horse jerked his head upward, making Liam frown. He mounted Casanova and led him out. "You haven't spent enough time around Daine to become that smart," Liam scolded, but allowed the stallion to lead them off to the right of the castle and into the woods. They picked their way along a winding path, and eventually it opened onto a large clearing surrounded by high fencing. Olivia was perched on the wooden rail watching several horses run in circles around the field.

Liam dismounted and walked over to sit next to her on the rail. He slid an arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head next to his chest.

"I can't believe he's gone," Olivia whispered, tears sliding down her face. "It doesn't feel real. What am I supposed to do now? Who do I ask for advice? Who do I turn to when the world seems big and scary, and I feel like I'm not old enough or strong enough to do what I'm supposed to? I know, I know you're there for me, Liam. I know. I really don't know what I would have done if we'd never met, if I hadn't agreed to marry you, but it was different. He always knew the right thing to do. He was my appa. You know what he said on that cliff? He'd gotten my letter saying I was pregnant and come straight there. He came all that way to give me a hug, tell me it would be alright and that I could do whatever I wanted, whatever felt right. That it was my decision. That I could be a good mother. That I deserved a loving husband. And suddenly everything seemed less scary. Because my appa told me I didn't have to be scared. I don't know how to do _this_ with out him. It's been three weeks since he died, and I have had to make an endless parade of decisions and I've wanted his opinion every moment, or even just to hear him say: you know what you're doing baby girl. Especially with Kendra. I needed him to tell me that I was right. And that was just the worst of so many moments. And I keep expecting it to get better, but it doesn't. It doesn't get better."

"I know, sweet," Liam whispered into her hair. "It will get better, but it will take time. Lots of time. You'll never stop missing him, but you'll learn. You'll learn to remember that he would have said that no matter what you did. That he trusted you, and you should trust his opinion of you. And you'll remember that he isn't gone. He's up there."

Liam pointed up at the stars, and Olivia gave him a watery smile. "I just hope they found each other up there," she said quietly.

"Of course they did. Want to know how I know?"

"How do you know?"

"Because I would find you," Liam replied quietly, leaning forward and kissing her softly.

Olivia kissed him back for a long moment before pulling away and giving him a smile. "You're right. I'd find you too."

Olivia repeated the same K'miri phrase under her breath once again.

"What does that mean?" Liam asked

"Oh, it's just a phrase we say when a warrior dies. It means, I don't even know exactly. We just always say it." She paused and considered for a moment. "I suppose the best translation is: 'Find peace, departed warrior. You have earned your rest.'"

"I like it."

"Me too."

Olivia sighed, her eyes dead. "I wish we could stay here and watch the horses. Appa's ranch is the only part of Sarain I truly love, but we have so much still to do. I hate every moment I spend in that castle. I really just want to go home."

"Soon love, soon we will go home, and you know I still owe you from our bet."

"What bet?"

"About whether Leilah would be a boy or a girl. I owe you a week in Persopolis without anyone knowing who we are."

"Can we take Leilah?"

"Of course. It'll be just the three of us. We'll have a wonderful time. It's a beautiful city. There are markets, and there's a gorgeous oasis. Leilah will love it. We'll have to watch her like hawks though. She has no fear. She just walks straight in and keeps going."

"That will be fun," she said with a smile.

Liam smiled back and leaned forward to kiss both her cheekbones, tasting the salt from her tears. "Yes it will. Now, lets get you into bed. We have a long day tomorrow."

"We always have a long day," Olivia said, whistling for Beauty and hopping off the fence. "But thank you for reminding me what I have to look forward to when this is all finally over."

"We have lots to look forward to. For instance, I get to look forward to getting you pregnant again."

Olivia laughed. "Oh really? Do I get a say in this?"

Liam grinned. "I'd wear you down even if you said no. I got you to marry me, didn't I?"

"It's true," Olivia replied, mounting Beauty as Liam mounted Casanova. "But I know your tricks now. Speaking of tricks, how's Korintha?"

"She's coming along nicely. She should be back on her feet in two weeks, though she's insisting three days."

"Good. I would have hated to lose her. I'm sorry about Jayseb, Liam. I just realized I never told you that."

"Thank you," Liam replied quietly, ignoring the tightness in his chest her words brought. He'd lost a few of his men, but Jayseb's death had hurt the most. Jayseb had been with him every step of the way through those horrible days in Scanra. "I hope he finds peace now, too. He never did get right again after Scanra."

Liam was silent until Olivia leaned over and squeezed his hand lightly. He smiled and shook his head slightly, then said, "So, this Lord Paldmer, do you think he'll come around, or are we going to have to ride out and bash him into obedience?"

The two meandered back to the castle, keeping their horses close enough that their boots knocked together occasionally as they discussed the lingering clean-up needs and the few lords who still seemed willing to fight to keep Jasper off the throne. Before long they fell into a companionable silence, and they unsaddled and brushed down their horses before heading back into the castle. Liam took Olivia's hand as they walked to her bedroom, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. They paused to check in on Leilah, and Liam smiled as he watched his wife tuck the blankets a little tighter around their daughter before they made their way to their own room. They helped each other undress the way they always did and climbed into bed. Olivia lay her head down on Liam's chest, and he felt a few more tears slide off her cheeks onto his torso as he gently rubbed slow, comforting circles into her back. Eventually, her breathing took on the regular pattern of sleep and her tears stopped. He stayed awake while she slept, listening to her breath as he waited for dawn to come. Soon, it would all be over, and then they could begin.

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Finis! How exciting is that?!?! I feel a huge sense of accomplishment.

Please, please, please review!

I'll admit I went back and forth on whether to add a happily ever after type epilogue, but I realized these two didn't need it, and this just felt much more fitting to their characters and their story. So this is the end, and I hope you agree that this is a good ending for them. Either way review and tell me!!!!!!

**dancelikeyoujustdontcare**: Thanks for the review! Hope this meets your expectations!

**vivekaM**: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you appreciate it. Trust me this was quite the battle.

**studentofwords: **You loved it!! Yay!! Hope you like this too....

**southernbelle61:** I know that mixed feeling all too well. I even feel it writing. This story has been dragging on me--demanding to be finished, and I didn't always have time, and I just wanted it finished, and now I'm sad not to be writing it anymore. Thanks for your thoughtful review!

**NittersweetHearts08**: A review from Chapter 9! Nice to know people are still beginning this story. I'm very fond of that chapter, and I'm glad you liked it too.

**Tishica: **It was an intense chapter to write too. Glad you liked it!


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